GHSA-jwcc-j78w-j73w CVE-2018-10855 PYSEC-2018-42

Ansible exposes sensitive data in log files and on the terminal

Medium PyPI

Severity: 0.0 / 10; Medium · CVSS 4.0
Exploit chance (EPSS): 3.11%; Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 87.81% of scored vulnerabilities.
Known exploited: No; Not in CISA's catalog
Weakness: CWE-532 Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File
Fix: 2.5.5; Upgrade ansible to this version or later

Description

Ansible 2.5 prior to 2.5.5, and 2.4 prior to 2.4.5, do not honor the no_log task flag for failed tasks. When the no_log flag has been used to protect sensitive data passed to a task from being logged, and that task does not run successfully, Ansible will expose sensitive data in log files and on the terminal of the user running Ansible.

Affected versions

PyPI

Package	Vulnerable	Fixed in
ansible	`>= 2.5.0a1, < 2.5.5`	`2.5.5`
ansible	`>= 2.4.0.0, < 2.4.5.0`	`2.4.5.0`
ansible	`>= 2.5, < 2.5.5` `>= 2.4, < 2.4.5.0`	`2.4.5.0` `2.5.5`

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 → `2.5.5`

pip

pip install --upgrade "ansible>=2.5.5"

poetry

poetry add "ansible>=2.5.5"

uv

uv add "ansible>=2.5.5"

Severity breakdown

CVSS 4.0 0.0

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

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Attack requirements: Present
Privileges required: None
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 5.9

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

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

Weakness

CWE-532: Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File

The product writes sensitive information to a log file.

How to prevent it

Architecture and Design, Implementation: Consider seriously the sensitivity of the information written into log files. Do not write secrets into the log files.
Distribution: Remove debug log files before deploying the application into production.
Operation: Protect log files against unauthorized read/write.
Implementation: Adjust configurations appropriately when software is transitioned from a debug state to production.

References

Advisories

Packages

github.com/ansible/ansible

Timeline

Jul 3, 2018 Published
Nov 25, 2024 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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