CVE-2026-16544Awx: websocket eventconsumer missing authorization for inventory_update_events, project_update_events, and system_job_events allows cross-organization stdout disclosure
- 6.5MediumCVSS base score
- 0.39%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 67% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
A flaw was found in AWX. The websocket event consumer performs RBAC authorization checks only for event groups that are mapped in the consumer_access() function (job_events, workflow_events, ad_hoc_command_events). Three event groups - inventory_update_events, project_update_events, and system_job_events — are not mapped, causing the authorization check to be skipped. Any authenticated user can subscribe to these unmapped websocket event groups for any object ID and receive real-time stdout output from jobs belonging to organizations they have no access to. This is an incomplete remediation of CVE-2020-10698.
Timeline
ID reserved
By redhat
Published
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| redhatCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | Medium6.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N |
| NVDNVD · Awaiting Analysis | 3.1 | Medium6.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.39% · top 67% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.5.
Affected products
Red Hat · Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2
All versions: affected
Red Hat · Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform 2
All versions: affected
What to do
Workaround: The following practices would help for avoiding exposure and mitigate this flaw: - Restrict AWX/Controller user account creation to only trusted individuals. Since any authenticated user can exploit this flaw regardless of role, minimizing the number of user accounts reduces the attack surface. - Use external authentication (LDAP, SAML, OIDC) with strict group mappings to prevent self-registration and ensure only authorized users can log in. - Review the list of AWX/Controller users and remove or deactivate any accounts that are no longer needed. - Monitor websocket connections and subscriptions for unusual patterns, such as a user subscribing to inventory_update_events or project_update_events for object IDs outside their organization. - Avoid embedding credentials in SCM URLs or inventory source configurations, as these may appear in stdout output. Use credential objects instead. - Apply network segmentation to restrict access to the AWX/Controller web interface to trusted networks only.
References
References2
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-16544 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_REDHAT
- RHBZ#2506053 (opens in a new tab)issue-trackingx_refsource_REDHAT
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-47629 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-16544)Record last updated .