Ansible troubleshooting - Permission denied Errno 13
How to troubleshoot the Permission denied Errno 13 Ansible fatal error and workaround the problem using the privilege escalation on Ansible Playbook.


Today we’re going to talk about Ansible troubleshooting, specifically about permission denied [Errno 13]. I’m Luca Berton and welcome to today’s episode of Ansible Pilot.
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demo
How to troubleshoot the Ansible fatal error[Errno 13] Permission denied and fix in Ansible Playbook code.
error code
---
- name: set environment demo
hosts: all
gather_facts: false
vars:
os_environment:
- key: EDITOR
value: vi
tasks:
- name: customize /etc/environment
ansible.builtin.lineinline:
dest: "/etc/environment"
state: present
regexp: "^{{ item.key }}="
line: "{{ item.key }}={{ item.value }}"
with_items: "{{ os_environment }}"
error execution
ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory troubleshooting/permissiondenied_error.yml
PLAY [set environment demo] ***********************************************************************
TASK [customize /etc/environment] *****************************************************************
An exception occurred during task execution. To see the full traceback, use -vvv. The error was: PermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: b'/home/devops/.ansible/tmp/ansible-tmp-1645543127.772594-89712-144540003805636/tmpvhoh4q83' -> b'/etc/environment'
failed: [demo.example.com] (item={'key': 'EDITOR', 'value': 'vi'}) => {"ansible_facts": {"discovered_interpreter_python": "/usr/libexec/platform-python"}, "ansible_loop_var": "item", "changed": false, "item": {"key": "EDITOR", "value": "vi"}, "msg": "The destination directory (/etc) is not writable by the current user. Error was: [Errno 13] Permission denied: b'/etc/.ansible_tmp_hwdwg3denvironment'"}
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
demo.example.com : ok=0 changed=0 unreachable=0 failed=1 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
ansible-pilot $
fix code
---
- name: set environment demo
hosts: all
gather_facts: false
become: true
vars:
os_environment:
- key: EDITOR
value: vi
tasks:
- name: customize /etc/environment
ansible.builtin.lineinline:
dest: "/etc/environment"
state: present
regexp: "^{{ item.key }}="
line: "{{ item.key }}={{ item.value }}"
with_items: "{{ os_environment }}"
fix execution
ansible-pilot $ ansible-playbook -i virtualmachines/demo/inventory troubleshooting/permissiondenied_fix.yml
PLAY [set environment demo] ***********************************************************************
TASK [customize /etc/environment] *****************************************************************
changed: [demo.example.com] => (item={'key': 'EDITOR', 'value': 'vi'})
PLAY RECAP ****************************************************************************************
demo.example.com : ok=1 changed=1 unreachable=0 failed=0 skipped=0 rescued=0 ignored=0
ansible-pilot $
Recap
Now you know better how to troubleshoot the Ansible[Errno 13] Permission denied error. Subscribe to the YouTube channel, Medium, Website, Twitter, and Substack to not miss the next episode of the Ansible Pilot.
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