GHSA-6fq2-x65v-v9h7 CVE-2019-14856 PYSEC-2019-146

Ansible password prompts could expose passwords

Medium PyPI

Severity: 0.0 / 10; Medium · CVSS 4.0
Exploit chance (EPSS): 1.66%; Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 76.71% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited: No; Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness: CWE-287 Improper Authentication
Fix: 2.8.6; Upgrade ansible to this version or later

Description

A data disclosure flaw was found in ansible. Password prompts in ansible-playbook and ansible-cli tools could expose passwords with special characters as they are not properly wrapped. A password with special characters is exposed starting with the first of these special characters. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality.

This CVE exists due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2019-10206.

Affected versions

PyPI

Package	Vulnerable	Fixed in
ansible	`>= 2.8.0, < 2.8.6`	`2.8.6`
ansible	`>= 2.7.0, < 2.7.14`	`2.7.14`
ansible	`>= 2.6.0, < 2.6.20`	`2.6.20`
ansible	`>= 2.6.0, < 2.6.20` `>= 2.7.0, < 2.7.14` `>= 2.8.0, < 2.8.6`	`2.6.20` `2.7.14` `2.8.6`

How to fix

Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.

ansible PyPI → `2.8.6`

pip

pip install --upgrade "ansible>=2.8.6"

poetry

poetry add "ansible>=2.8.6"

uv

uv add "ansible>=2.8.6"

Severity breakdown

CVSS 4.0 0.0

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Attack requirements: None
Privileges required: Low
User interaction: None
Confidentiality (vulnerable system): High
Integrity (vulnerable system): None
Availability (vulnerable system): None
Confidentiality (subsequent systems): None
Integrity (subsequent systems): None
Availability (subsequent systems): None

CVSS 3.1 6.5

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: Low
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality: High
Integrity: None
Availability: None

Weakness

CWE-287: Improper Authentication

When an actor claims to have a given identity, the product does not prove or insufficiently proves that the claim is correct.

How to prevent it

Architecture and Design: Use an authentication framework or library such as the OWASP ESAPI Authentication feature.

References

Advisories

Packages

github.com/ansible/ansible

Timeline

Nov 26, 2019 Published
Jun 10, 2026 Last updated by the source
Oct 31, 2026 Latest EPSS score

Advisory	Severity	Why it's related
GHSA-8ggh-xwr9-3373 Ansible Community General Collection is vulnerable to exposure of sensitive information	Medium	Also affects ansible
GHSA-jpvw-p8pr-9g2x Ansible symlink attack vulnerability	Medium	Also affects ansible
GHSA-cpx3-93w7-457x Ansible leaks password to logs	High	Also affects ansible
GHSA-fh5v-5f35-2rv2 Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File in ansible	Medium	Also affects ansible
GHSA-4r65-35qq-ch8j Ansible discloses sensitive information in traceback error message	Medium	Also affects ansible
GHSA-2pfh-q76x-gwvm Improper Input Validation and Command Injection in Ansible	High	Also affects ansible
PYSEC-2021-126 A flaw was found in Ansible if an ansible user sets ANSIBLE_ASYNC_DIR to a subdirectory of a world writable directory.	Not rated yet	Also affects ansible
GHSA-r6h7-5pq2-j77h Insufficiently random values in Ansible	Medium	Also affects ansible

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