Community.general: community.general: memcached cache plugin deserializes untrusted pickle data from memcached, enabling cache-poisoning remote code execution on the ansible controller
Summary
| CVE | CVE-2026-87874 |
|---|---|
| State | PUBLISHED |
| Assigner | redhat |
| Source Priority | CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback |
| Published | 2026-09-09 17:17:53 UTC |
| Updated | 2026-09-09 20:13:26 UTC |
| Description | A flaw was found in the memcached cache plugin of the community.general Ansible collection. Although its documentation states that records are stored in JSON format, the plugin performs no explicit serialization and relies on python-memcached, which pickles values on write and unpickles them on read. Because memcached is unauthenticated and cache keys are predictable, an attacker able to reach a network-exposed or shared memcached instance can write a crafted pickle payload that is deserialized and executed on the Ansible controller when the poisoned fact cache is next read, leading to remote code execution. |
Risk And Classification
Primary CVSS: v3.1 8.1 HIGH from [email protected]
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Problem Types: CWE-502 | CWE-502 Deserialization of Untrusted Data
| Version | Source | Type | Score | Severity | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | [email protected] | Primary | 8.1 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| 3.1 | CNA | CVSS | 8.1 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
CVSS v3.1 Breakdown
Attack Vector
NetworkAttack Complexity
HighPrivileges Required
NoneUser Interaction
NoneScope
UnchangedConfidentiality
HighIntegrity
HighAvailability
HighCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Vendor Declared Affected Products
| Source | Vendor | Product | Version | Platforms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Ceph Storage 5 | Not specified | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat Ceph Storage 9 | Not specified | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat OpenStack Platform 17.1 | Not specified | Not specified |
| CNA | Red Hat | Red Hat OpenStack Platform 18.0 | Not specified | Not specified |
References
| Reference | Source | Link | Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2026-87874 | [email protected] | access.redhat.com | |
| bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi | [email protected] | bugzilla.redhat.com | |
| CVE Program record | CVE.ORG | www.cve.org | canonical |
| NVD vulnerability detail | NVD | nvd.nist.gov | canonical, analysis |
Vendor Comments And Credit
Discovery Credit
CNA: Red Hat would like to thank Jeong Woochang for reporting this issue. (en)
Additional Advisory Data
| Source | Time | Event |
|---|---|---|
| CNA | 2026-09-09T14:42:30.081Z | Reported to Red Hat. |
| CNA | 2026-09-09T00:00:00.000Z | Made public. |
Workarounds
CNA: Bind memcached to localhost only (the plugin default, 127.0.0.1:11211) and never expose an unauthenticated memcached across a trust boundary; isolate the cache to the controller. Prefer the redis cache plugin (explicit JSON) or the jsonfile/yaml cache plugins where a shared/remote fact cache is required. Treat any host with write access to the fact-cache memcached as trusted to run code on the controller.
There are currently no legacy QID mappings associated with this CVE.