Ansible: Permission denied

Ansible: Permission denied

Ansible reports "Permission denied" when a task requires sudo privileges but become: true is not set or sudo is not configured.

When Ansible Produces This Error

Ansible displays fatal: [hostname]: FAILED! => {"msg": "Missing sudo password"} or the remote command returns Permission denied.

What Causes Permission Denied in Ansible

The playbook runs tasks as a non-root user without become: true. The user has become: true set but the target system requires a sudo password and none was provided. The user is not in the sudo group on the target.

How to Fix Permission Denied in Ansible

1. Add become: true to the play or task:

   - name: Install package
     apt:
       name: nginx
       state: present
     become: true

2. Provide the sudo password at runtime:

   ansible-playbook site.yml --ask-become-pass

3. Verify the user has sudo access on the target:

   ssh user@hostname 'sudo whoami'

How to Verify the Fix

Run the playbook — tasks requiring root should show changed or ok without permission errors.