How severe is CVE-2020-10697?

CVE-2020-10697 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 4.4, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is low, integrity none, and availability low.

Is CVE-2020-10697 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (14th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2020-10697?

CVE-2020-10697 affects Redhat Ansible Tower. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.

How do I fix CVE-2020-10697?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.

When was CVE-2020-10697 published?

CVE-2020-10697 was published on 2021-05-27 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2020-10697

CVE-2020-10697 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Ansible Tower with a CVSS 3.x base score of 4.4. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-862.

Key facts

Severity: Medium (CVSS 3.x base score 4.4)
CVSS v2: 3.6
EPSS exploit prediction: 0% (14th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-862
Affected product: Redhat Ansible Tower
Published: 2021-05-27
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

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.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-10697?: 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.
How severe is CVE-2020-10697?: CVE-2020-10697 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 4.4, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is low, integrity none, and availability low.
Is CVE-2020-10697 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (14th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2020-10697?: CVE-2020-10697 affects Redhat Ansible Tower. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2020-10697?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2020-10697 published?: CVE-2020-10697 was published on 2021-05-27 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1818445

Affected products (1)

cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_tower:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

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