{"id":1096,"date":"2026-03-16T09:06:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T09:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techno.slomka.biz\/?p=1096"},"modified":"2026-03-16T09:30:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T09:30:31","slug":"conditional-privilege-escalation-in-ansible-playbooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techno.slomka.biz\/?p=1096","title":{"rendered":"Conditional Privilege Escalation in Ansible Playbooks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fixing become_user<\/code> Failures When Already Logged in as this user, e.g. ansible_user<\/code><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Problem Description<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This error occurs when an Ansible task is configured with become: true<\/code> and a become_user<\/code> that matches the current login user (the remote_user<\/code>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if you are already logged in as the target user, Ansible attempts to wrap the module execution in a privilege escalation command (typically sudo -u target_user<\/code>). If the target user is not explicitly permitted in the \/etc\/sudoers<\/code> file to “sudo to themselves,” the OS rejects the command, requesting a password that Ansible cannot provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the classic “I am who I say I am, but I can’t prove it to myself” conundrum. It’s a common headache in Ansible when your automation identity overlaps with your target identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Error Signature<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When this conflict occurs, the CI\/CD pipeline or terminal will return the following failure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YAML<\/span><\/span>