Vulnerability identifier: #VU16312

Vulnerability risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 3.9 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N/E:U/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2018-16859

CWE-ID: CWE-200

Exploitation vector: Local

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Ansible
Server applications / Remote management servers, RDP, SSH

Vendor: Red Hat Inc.

Description

The vulnerability allows a local attacker with administrative privileges to obtain potentially sensitive information.

The vulnerability exists due to the plaintext exposure of “become” passwords when Ansible playbooks are executed on a Windows system with PowerShell scriptblock logging and module logging. A local attacker can discover the plaintext password that can be used to conduct further attacks.

Mitigation
The vulnerability has been fixed in the versions 2.5.13, 2.6.10, 2.7.4.

Vulnerable software versions

Ansible: 2.7.0 - 2.7.3, 2.6.0 - 2.6.9, 2.5.0 - 2.5.12, 2.4.0 - 2.4.6, 1.0 - 1.0.6, 2.3.0 - 2.3.3, 1.2 - 1.2.1, 2.0.0 - 2.0.2, 2.1.0 - 2.1.6, 2.2.0 - 2.2.3

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External links
http://github.com/ansible/ansible/pull/49142

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.