# Ansible Windows Powershell over SSH not accepting pipelined input **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Tags:** windows\ **Created:** [July 25, 2025, 6:47am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-windows-powershell-over-ssh-not-accepting-pipelined-input/44085 "2025-07-25T06:47:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ole\_Friis\_Nielsen](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/ole_friis_nielsen/32/9108_2.png) [@Ole\_Friis\_Nielsen](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Ole_Friis_Nielsen)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2025, 6:47am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-windows-powershell-over-ssh-not-accepting-pipelined-input/44085/1 "2025-07-25T06:47:04Z")
I’m currently running into a problem with with the way the exec\_wrapper receives commands/scripts to run. I’m trying to run the below on ansible core 2.16.3, I have also tried on ansible core 2.18.7 but I’m getting the same error. The connection I’m performing goes like this: My laptop --(SSH)-\> CyberArk --(SSH)-\> my\_windows\_server The ansible.cfg file contains the following: ```auto [ssh_connection] gather_timeout = 90 pipelining = true ssh_args = -o ControlMaster=auto -o ControlPersist=60s ``` My inventory file looks like this: ```auto all: vars: ansible_connection: ssh ansible_shell_type: powershell hosts: my_windows_server: ftp: hosts: my_windows_server: ``` My playbook looks like this: ```auto --- - name: Configure Windows Firewall hosts: ftp gather_facts: no tasks: # Test connectivity to a windows host # ansible winserver -m ansible.windows.win_ping - name: Execute whoami in PowerShell ansible.windows.win_shell: "whoami" ``` I turned on powershell transcription on the server and managed to get the script being run, which looks like this and seems fairly normal based on what I have been able to piece together: ```auto &chcp.com 65001 > $null if ($PSVersionTable.PSVersion -lt [Version]"3.0") { '{"failed":true,"msg":"Ansible requires PowerShell v3.0 or newer"}' exit 1 } $exec_wrapper_str = $input | Out-String $split_parts = $exec_wrapper_str.Split(@("`0`0`0`0"), 2, [StringSplitOptions]::RemoveEmptyEntries) If (-not $split_parts.Length -eq 2) { throw "invalid payload" } Set-Variable -Name json_raw -Value $split_parts[1] $exec_wrapper = [ScriptBlock]::Create($split_parts[0]) &$exec_wrapper ``` However that is followed by the following error which is the same error I see in the ansible output: ```auto PS>CommandInvocation(Out-String): "Out-String" >> ParameterBinding(Out-String): name="InputObject"; value="Exception calling "Create" with "1" argument(s): "At line:159 char:5 + {"module_entry": "IyFwb3dlcnNoZWxsCgojIENvcHlyaWdodDogKGMpIDIwMTc ... + ~ Unexpected token '{' in expression or statement."" Exception calling "Create" with "1" argument(s): "At line:159 char:5 + {"module_entry": "IyFwb3dlcnNoZWxsCgojIENvcHlyaWdodDogKGMpIDIwMTc ... + ~ Unexpected token '{' in expression or statement." At line:10 char:1 + $exec_wrapper = [ScriptBlock]::Create($split_parts[0]) + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParseException Exception calling "Create" with "1" argument(s): "At line:159 char:5 + {"module_entry": "IyFwb3dlcnNoZWxsCgojIENvcHlyaWdodDogKGMpIDIwMTc ... + ~ Unexpected token '{' in expression or statement." At line:10 char:1 + $exec_wrapper = [ScriptBlock]::Create($split_parts[0]) + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParseException Exception calling "Create" with "1" argument(s): "At line:159 char:5 + {"module_entry": "IyFwb3dlcnNoZWxsCgojIENvcHlyaWdodDogKGMpIDIwMTc ... + ~ Unexpected token '{' in expression or statement." At line:10 char:1 + $exec_wrapper = [ScriptBlock]::Create($split_parts[0]) + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParseException ``` #windows #ssh #powershell ---
**Author:** ![jborean](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jborean/32/1525_2.png) [@jborean](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jborean)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-windows-powershell-over-ssh-not-accepting-pipelined-input/44085/2 "2025-07-27T18:28:55Z")
The exec wrapper will write 2 things to stdin, the actual execution code then the module JSON payload. These values are separated from 4 null byte chars so the execution code should be `$split_parts[0]` while the module json should be `$split_parts[1]`. In your case it seems like the code isn’t receiving the first part and is trying to smuggle the module JSON payload as the first part which will fail. I would try to replicate this without whatever this `CyberArk` SSH thing is to try and see whether it’s a problem on the SSH server side, whatever CyberArk is doing, or how Ansible it sending the JSON. The other curious thing is seeing > ParameterBinding(Out-String): name=“InputObject”; value=… This would indicate that potentially you have module logging enabled in PowerShell which is certainly not something you normally would see. This is an unusual thing to see even in stdout/stderr as it is typically written as a Windows event log. I’m not sure why you see this at all in the output but it’s certainly something to look into further to see if maybe that’s what is consuming the initial input data. ---
**Author:** ![Ole\_Friis\_Nielsen](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/ole_friis_nielsen/32/9108_2.png) [@Ole\_Friis\_Nielsen](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Ole_Friis_Nielsen)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 5:46am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-windows-powershell-over-ssh-not-accepting-pipelined-input/44085/3 "2025-07-28T05:46:23Z")
Hi Jordan, Thanks for the reply, I have just tested by going through another ssh proxy we have and it’s working through that, which seems to confirm your suspicion that CyberArk is the one to blame. It’s also nice to have some more information about what gets sent through stdin, I was sort of convinced that the json I was seeing was something CyberArk was placing in stdin, but knowing that it’s the module and it’s meant to happen does make things clearer. I did also end up trying to run commands with ansible.builtin.raw, which did work so I guess it’s truly a problem with CyberArk and stdin, which I will have to take up with them. Regarding the logging, we do have module logging enabled, and it has most likely been turned on by our Antivirus. The output I grabbed was also from a Powershell Transcript I had set the server up to log, as I thought it would give more details that could help me in troubleshooting it. ---
**Author:** ![jborean](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/jborean/32/1525_2.png) [@jborean](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jborean)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2025, 10:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-windows-powershell-over-ssh-not-accepting-pipelined-input/44085/4 "2025-07-28T22:46:40Z")
Glad to hear you were able to narrow it down. Ultimately I’m not sure why CyberArk might be trimming out the initial stdin line that includes the payload to run. It’ll be interesting if something like this worked outside of Ansible (with whatever is needed to go through CyberArk). ```auto echo -e "line1\nline2" | ssh localhost cat ``` Thanks for clarifying about the module logging, glad to hear it wasn’t some unknown feature that might pollute the output that I wasn’t aware about. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2025, 10:47pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-windows-powershell-over-ssh-not-accepting-pipelined-input/44085/5 "2025-08-27T22:47:06Z")
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