CVE-2020-10697

What it is

A flaw was found in Ansible Tower when running Openshift. Tower runs a memcached, which is accessed via TCP. An attacker can take advantage of writing a playbook polluting this cache, causing a denial of service attack. This attack would not completely stop the service, but in the worst-case scenario, it can reduce the Tower performance, for which memcached is designed. Theoretically, more sophisticated attacks can be performed by manipulating and crafting the cache, as Tower relies on memcached as a place to pull out setting values. Confidential and sensitive data stored in memcached should not be pulled, as this information is encrypted. This flaw affects Ansible Tower versions before 3.6.4, Ansible Tower versions before 3.5.6 and Ansible Tower versions before 3.4.6.

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited locally on the machine with a low-privilege account. Limited direct impact.

Exploit odds

0.2% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.

Timeline

1. 2021-05-27 19:15 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-06-17 02:48 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 0.2% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 4.4 MEDIUM (CVSS).
• Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.

Details

Published

2021-05-27 19:15 UTC

Last modified

2026-06-17 02:48 UTC

Exploit probability

0.2% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-862 · Missing authorization

Record status

Modified

Affected

• Redhat Ansible Tower < 3.4.6
• Redhat Ansible Tower < 3.5.6
• Redhat Ansible Tower < 3.6.4

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 4.4

Attack vector

Local

Complexity

Low

Privileges needed

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

Low

Is it in your code?

Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.

Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2020-10697.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2020-10697. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.

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