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CVE Record

CVE-2026-6266: Aap-controller: aap-gateway: account hijacking and unauthorized access via unverified email linking

A flaw was found in the AAP gateway. The user auto-link strategy, introduced in AAP 2.6, automatically links an external Identity Provider (IDP) identity to an existing AAP user account based on email matching without verifying email ownership. This allows a remote attacker to potentially hijack a victim's account or gain unauthorized access to other accounts, including administrative accounts, by manipulating the IDP-provided email.

HighCVSS 8.3Not KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

Ansible Automation Platform may link an external identity to an existing user solely because their email addresses match, without confirming email ownership. An attacker able to manipulate the identity provider’s email claim could potentially take over another user’s account, including an administrator account, and gain its access.

Executive priority

Treat this as a high-priority identity-control issue. Accelerate assessment and vendor-directed remediation for externally reachable or privileged AAP environments. Potential administrator account hijacking could compromise control of automation operations, although the supplied evidence does not show active exploitation.

Technical view

CVE-2026-6266 is an authentication weakness in AAP gateway’s user auto-link strategy. It is classified as CWE-305 with CVSS 3.1 score 8.3: network-accessible, low complexity, low privileges, no user interaction, and high confidentiality and integrity impact. The supplied affected-product data lists specific AAP 2.5 and 2.6 packages.

Likely exposure

Likely exposure is limited to listed AAP 2.5 or 2.6 deployments using an external identity provider and automatic email-based account linking. Internet-reachable gateways and environments containing privileged AAP accounts warrant fastest review. The bundle does not establish that every installation of these releases has the vulnerable configuration enabled.

Exploitation context

The attacker must have low-level access and be able to influence an identity provider’s asserted email. Successful abuse requires a matching existing AAP email and no victim interaction. The bundle reports no CISA KEV listing and provides no evidence of active exploitation; that absence does not prove exploitation has never occurred.

Researcher notes

The vector is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L. Scope needs careful confirmation: the description says the strategy was introduced in AAP 2.6, while affected entries also list AAP 2.5 packages. Confirm configuration applicability and fixed-package status through the current Red Hat advisories before closing findings.

Mitigation direction

  • Review the applicable Red Hat security advisories and apply vendor-specified updates after compatibility testing.
  • Check Red Hat guidance for supported temporary mitigations; none are specified in the supplied bundle.
  • Prioritize remediation where privileged accounts, external identity providers, and automatic email linking coexist.
  • Ask Red Hat support to clarify applicable fixed packages if advisory mapping remains uncertain.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory AAP versions, gateway images, controller packages, and django-ansible-base packages across all deployments.
  • Compare installed package or container identifiers with the Red Hat advisories and CSAF record.
  • Determine whether external identity providers and automatic email-based account linking are enabled.
  • Review identity-linking and authentication records for unexpected links involving privileged accounts.
  • After remediation, verify installed versions against current Red Hat guidance without attempting account takeover.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
7

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

cwe · low confidence lookup

CWE-305: Exact CWE lookup

Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.

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cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2026-6266 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
8.3 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

2CVSS vectors
7Timeline events
2ADP providers
7Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: noTechnical Impact: total

CVSS vector scores

2 official scores

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
8.3CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L2.85.5redhat
8.1CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N2.85.2redhat-SADP

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

8.3High
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2026-6266Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:L

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. ADP timelineredhat-SADP

    Reported to Red Hat.

  2. Source timelineredhat

    Reported to Red Hat.

  3. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  4. ADP timelineredhat-SADP

    Made public.

  5. Source timelineredhat

    Made public.

  6. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  7. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc
redhat-SADPaap-controller: aap-gateway: Account hijacking and unauthorized access via unverified email linking
other:Red Hat severity ratingcvssV3_1
  • 2026-04-14T06:29:16.779Z: Reported to Red Hat.
  • 2026-05-04T13:35:24.113Z: Made public.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
Unknown vendordjango-ansible-basedjango-ansible-base, 2.5.0, 2.6.0unaffected
Unknown vendorautomation-controllerautomation-controller, 4.6.0, 4.7.0unaffected
Unknown vendorautomation-gatewayautomation-gateway, 2.5.0, 2.6.0unaffected
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8automation-controller, 0:4.6.28-3.el8apaffected
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8automation-gateway, 0:2.5.20260422-2.el8apaffected
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 8python3.12-django-ansible-base, 0:2.5.20260422-2.el8apaffected
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9automation-controller, 0:4.6.28-3.el9apaffected
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9automation-gateway, 0:2.5.20260422-2.el9apaffected
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.5 for RHEL 9python3.12-django-ansible-base, 0:2.5.20260422-2.el9apaffected
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9automation-controller, 0:4.7.11-2.el9apaffected
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9automation-gateway, 0:2.6.20260422-1.el9apaffected
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6 for RHEL 9python3.12-django-ansible-base, 0:2.6.20260422-1.el9apaffected
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6ansible-automation-platform-26/controller-rhel9, 1777377014affected
Red HatRed Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2.6ansible-automation-platform-26/gateway-rhel9, 1777311120affected
Weakness

CWE details

CWE-305

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.

CWE-305 · source CWE mapping

Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness

Authentication Bypass by Primary Weakness represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.

Open CWE intelligenceSame-CWE CVEs