CVE-2026-44190
Description
A flaw was found in the Ansible Lightspeed Visual Studio Code extension. This Command Injection vulnerability (CWE-78) allows a remote attacker to execute unauthorized commands on a user's system. The issue occurs because the ansible.python.activationScript setting, intended for a virtual environment activation script, does not properly validate user input as a file path. If a user opens or executes a specially crafted project, an attacker could exploit this to gain complete control over the user's system with the privileges of the Visual Studio Code application.
Statement
This is an Important command injection flaw in the Ansible Lightspeed Visual Studio Code extension. It enables arbitrary code execution on a user's system with VS Code process privileges if a malicious project's .vscode/settings.json is opened or a playbook executed without prior validation. This could lead to a complete system compromise.
Note the VS Code extension is distributed via VS Code Marketplace, not shipped in AAP RPMs or containers.
Mitigation
To mitigate this issue, configure the `ansible.python.activationScript` setting to "User" scope only within Visual Studio Code settings. This prevents untrusted project configurations from defining this setting in `.vscode/settings.json`. Users should always review the contents of `.vscode/settings.json` before opening or executing playbooks from untrusted sources. This action does not require a service restart or reload.
Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) Score Details
Info alert:Important note
CVSS scores for open source components depend on vendor-specific factors (e.g. version or build chain). Therefore, Red Hat's score and impact rating can be different from NVD and other vendors. Red Hat remains the authoritative CVE Naming Authority (CNA) source for its products and services (see Red Hat classifications).
The following CVSS metrics and score provided are preliminary and subject to review.
CVSS v3 Score Breakdown
| Red Hat | NVD | cve.org | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base Score | 7.8 | N/A | 7.8 |
| Attack Vector | Local | N/A | Local |
| Attack Complexity | Low | N/A | Low |
| Privileges Required | None | N/A | None |
| User Interaction | Required | N/A | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged | N/A | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High | N/A | High |
| Integrity Impact | High | N/A | High |
| Availability Impact | High | N/A | High |
Vector
Red Hat: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
cve.org: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Understanding the Weakness (CWE)
Confidentiality,Integrity,Availability,Non-Repudiation
Technical Impact: Execute Unauthorized Code or Commands; DoS: Crash, Exit, or Restart; Read Files or Directories; Modify Files or Directories; Read Application Data; Modify Application Data; Hide Activities
Attackers could execute unauthorized operating system commands, which could then be used to disable the product, or read and modify data for which the attacker does not have permissions to access directly. Since the targeted application is directly executing the commands instead of the attacker, any malicious activities may appear to come from the application or the application's owner.
Acknowledgements
This issue was discovered by Laura Pardo (Red Hat Inc.).
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