CVE-2026-55074
Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin: Jail escape via symlink following in put_file (host-side root mv)
Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin is an Ansible connection plugin for FreeBSD Jails via jexec. Through version 1.3.0, the jailexec connection plugin's put_file resolved a transfer's destination to a path on the jail host ( + ) and ran mkdir -p and mv there as root on the host. Those commands follow symbolic links, and the path was operated on outside the jail, so a symlink existing inside the jail was followed by the host-side, root-privileged mv. A party controlling content inside a managed jail (the jail's root, or any process able to create a symlink in a directory an Ansible task later writes to) can therefore cause an arbitrary root-owned write on the host, outside the jail — a full jail escape. Arbitrary root-owned host writes are readily escalated to host compromise (e.g. cron, rc.d, authorized_keys). Preconditions for this vulnerability are that the operator runs a copy/template/fetch-style task (anything using put_file) against the jail, and the attacker can place a symlink inside the jail at or above the task's destination before the transfer runs. This issue has been fixed in version 2.0.0.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
8.2
Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin: Jail escape via symlink following in put_file (host-side root mv)
Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin is an Ansible connection plugin for FreeBSD Jails via jexec. Through version 1.3.0, the jailexec connection plugin's put_file resolved a transfer's destination to a path on the jail host ( + ) and ran mkdir -p and mv there as root on the host. Those commands follow symbolic links, and the path was operated on outside the jail, so a symlink existing inside the jail was followed by the host-side, root-privileged mv. A party controlling content inside a managed jail (the jail's root, or any process able to create a symlink in a directory an Ansible task later writes to) can therefore cause an arbitrary root-owned write on the host, outside the jail — a full jail escape. Arbitrary root-owned host writes are readily escalated to host compromise (e.g. cron, rc.d, authorized_keys). Preconditions for this vulnerability are that the operator runs a copy/template/fetch-style task (anything using put_file) against the jail, and the attacker can place a symlink inside the jail at or above the task's destination before the transfer runs. This issue has been fixed in version 2.0.0.
- Record
CVE-2026-55074- CVSS 4.0
- 8.2 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2026-83940
8.2
Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin is an Ansible connection plugin for FreeBSD Jails via jexec. Through version 1.3.0, the jailexec connection plugin's put_file resolved a transfer's destination to a path on the jail host ( + ) and ran mkdir -p and mv there as root on the host. Those commands follow symbolic links, and the path was operated on outside the jail, so a symlink existing inside the jail was followed by the host-side, root-privileged mv. A party controlling content inside a managed jail (the jail's root, or any process able to create a symlink in a directory an Ansible task later writes to) can therefore cause an arbitrary root-owned write on the host, outside the jail — a full jail escape. Arbitrary root-owned host writes are readily escalated to host compromise (e.g. cron, rc.d, authorized_keys). Preconditions for this vulnerability are that the operator runs a copy/template/fetch-style task (anything using put_file) against the jail, and the attacker can place a symlink inside the jail at or above the task's destination before the transfer runs. This issue has been fixed in version 2.0.0.
- Record
EUVD-2026-83940- CVSS 4.0
- 8.2 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-cxgv-hp74-jj7r
7.7
Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin: Jail escape via symlink following in put_file (host-side root mv)
Through version 1.3.0, the jailexec connection plugin's put_file resolved a transfer's destination to a path on the jail host (<jail filesystem root> + <destination>) and ran mkdir -p and mv there as root on the host. Those commands follow symbolic links, and the path was operated on outside the jail, so a symlink existing inside the jail was followed by the host-side, root-privileged mv.
A party controlling content inside a managed jail (the jail's root, or any process able to create a symlink in a directory an Ansible task later writes to) can therefore cause an arbitrary root-owned write on the host, outside the jail — a full jail escape. Arbitrary root-owned host writes are readily escalated to host compromise (e.g. cron, rc.d, authorized_keys).
Preconditions: the operator runs a copy/template/fetch-style task (anything using put_file) against the jail, and the attacker can place a symlink inside the jail at or above the task's destination before the transfer runs.
Patches: Fixed in 2.0.0. File transfers now run inside the jail via jexec (mkdir -p <dir> && cat > <dest> for put_file; cat < <src> for fetch_file), so every path resolves within the jail's chroot. An in-jail symlink can at most redirect within the same jail and can no longer reach the host.
Workarounds: None in affected versions; upgrade to 2.0.0.
- Record
GHSA-cxgv-hp74-jj7r- CVSS 4.0
- 7.7 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
8.2
Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin is an Ansible connection plugin for FreeBSD Jails via jexec. Through version 1.3.0, the jailexec connection plugin's put_file resolved a transfer's destination to a path on the jail host ( + ) and ran mkdir -p and mv there as root on the host. Those commands follow symbolic links, and the path was operated on outside the jail, so a symlink existing inside the jail was followed by the host-side, root-privileged mv. A party controlling content inside a managed jail (the jail's root, or any process able to create a symlink in a directory an Ansible task later writes to) can therefore cause an arbitrary root-owned write on the host, outside the jail — a full jail escape. Arbitrary root-owned host writes are readily escalated to host compromise (e.g. cron, rc.d, authorized_keys). Preconditions for this vulnerability are that the operator runs a copy/template/fetch-style task (anything using put_file) against the jail, and the attacker can place a symlink inside the jail at or above the task's destination before the transfer runs. This issue has been fixed in version 2.0.0.
- Record
CVE-2026-55074- CVSS 4.0
- 8.2 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
8.2
Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin: Jail escape via symlink following in put_file (host-side root mv)
Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin is an Ansible connection plugin for FreeBSD Jails via jexec. Through version 1.3.0, the jailexec connection plugin's put_file resolved a transfer's destination to a path on the jail host ( + ) and ran mkdir -p and mv there as root on the host. Those commands follow symbolic links, and the path was operated on outside the jail, so a symlink existing inside the jail was followed by the host-side, root-privileged mv. A party controlling content inside a managed jail (the jail's root, or any process able to create a symlink in a directory an Ansible task later writes to) can therefore cause an arbitrary root-owned write on the host, outside the jail — a full jail escape. Arbitrary root-owned host writes are readily escalated to host compromise (e.g. cron, rc.d, authorized_keys). Preconditions for this vulnerability are that the operator runs a copy/template/fetch-style task (anything using put_file) against the jail, and the attacker can place a symlink inside the jail at or above the task's destination before the transfer runs. This issue has been fixed in version 2.0.0.
- Record
CVE-2026-55074- CVSS 4.0
- 8.2 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-cxgv-hp74-jj7r
7.7
Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin: Jail escape via symlink following in put_file (host-side root mv)
Through version 1.3.0, the jailexec connection plugin's put_file resolved a transfer's destination to a path on the jail host (<jail filesystem root> + <destination>) and ran mkdir -p and mv there as root on the host. Those commands follow symbolic links, and the path was operated on outside the jail, so a symlink existing inside the jail was followed by the host-side, root-privileged mv.
A party controlling content inside a managed jail (the jail's root, or any process able to create a symlink in a directory an Ansible task later writes to) can therefore cause an arbitrary root-owned write on the host, outside the jail — a full jail escape. Arbitrary root-owned host writes are readily escalated to host compromise (e.g. cron, rc.d, authorized_keys).
Preconditions: the operator runs a copy/template/fetch-style task (anything using put_file) against the jail, and the attacker can place a symlink inside the jail at or above the task's destination before the transfer runs.
Patches: Fixed in 2.0.0. File transfers now run inside the jail via jexec (mkdir -p <dir> && cat > <dest> for put_file; cat < <src> for fetch_file), so every path resolves within the jail's chroot. An in-jail symlink can at most redirect within the same jail and can no longer reach the host.
Workarounds: None in affected versions; upgrade to 2.0.0.
- Record
GHSA-cxgv-hp74-jj7r- CVSS 4.0
- 7.7 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Weakness
- CWE-59
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVPYSEC-2026-3658
7.7
Ansible FreeBSD Jail Connection Plugin: Jail escape via symlink following in put_file (host-side root mv)
Through version 1.3.0, the jailexec connection plugin's put_file resolved a transfer's destination to a path on the jail host (<jail filesystem root> + <destination>) and ran mkdir -p and mv there as root on the host. Those commands follow symbolic links, and the path was operated on outside the jail, so a symlink existing inside the jail was followed by the host-side, root-privileged mv.
A party controlling content inside a managed jail (the jail's root, or any process able to create a symlink in a directory an Ansible task later writes to) can therefore cause an arbitrary root-owned write on the host, outside the jail — a full jail escape. Arbitrary root-owned host writes are readily escalated to host compromise (e.g. cron, rc.d, authorized_keys).
Preconditions: the operator runs a copy/template/fetch-style task (anything using put_file) against the jail, and the attacker can place a symlink inside the jail at or above the task's destination before the transfer runs.
Patches: Fixed in 2.0.0. File transfers now run inside the jail via jexec (mkdir -p <dir> && cat > <dest> for put_file; cat < <src> for fetch_file), so every path resolves within the jail's chroot. An in-jail symlink can at most redirect within the same jail and can no longer reach the host.
Workarounds: None in affected versions; upgrade to 2.0.0.
- Record
PYSEC-2026-3658- CVSS 4.0
- 7.7 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
ansible-jailexecPyPI |
before 2.0.0 | 2.0.0 |
ansible-jailexecPyPI |
before 2.0.0, plus listed versions 1.2.01.3.0 |
2.0.0 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| first indexed | CVE List, EUVD, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2026-55074 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.2) in Chofstede Ansible Jailexec, published August 12, 2026. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.44%, the 38th percentile. Fixed in ansible-jailexec 2.0.0.
References
github.com/chofstede/ansible_jailexec/security/advisories/GHSA-cxgv-hp74-jj7r
github.com/chofstede/ansible_jailexec/pull/6
github.com/chofstede/ansible_jailexec/commit/6e80eecb2db7aebd1258fded6ae5c3aba1dd4123
github.com/chofstede/ansible_jailexec/blob/main/docs/security/advisory-2.0.0-jail-escape.md
github.com/chofstede/ansible_jailexec/releases/tag/v2.0.0
github.com/advisories/GHSA-cxgv-hp74-jj7r