CVE-2018-16859

lowpriority · track · 18EPSS 0.005 · 45 %ileDEEUUS

grimoire priorityP3 · Track

Exploitable?

—

no known exploitation

Likely / severe?

0.54% (45th) EPSS

CVSS 2.1 · low

Is it mine?

25 products

Check your exposure

Who says so?

6 sources

cnnvd · enisa_euvd · osv · cert_bund

EPSS · scored 2026-10-27

Execution of Ansible playbooks on Windows platforms with PowerShell ScriptBlock logging and Module logging enabled can allow for 'become' passwords to appear in EventLogs in plaintext. A local user with administrator privileges on the machine can view these logs and discover the plaintext password. Ansible Engine 2.8 and older are believed to be vulnerable.

remediations

Vendor fix, mitigation, or workaround guidance, as published by each source.

A vendor fix is available.

Fixedansible-0:2.5.13-1.el7ae.noarch as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.5 for RHEL 7 Serverredhat_csaf
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3770
Fixedansible-0:2.5.13-1.el7ae.src as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.5 for RHEL 7 Serverredhat_csaf
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3770
Fixedansible-doc-0:2.5.13-1.el7ae.noarch as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.5 for RHEL 7 Serverredhat_csaf
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3770
Fixedansible-0:2.6.10-1.el7ae.noarch as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.6 for RHEL 7 Serverredhat_csaf
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3771
Fixedansible-0:2.6.10-1.el7ae.src as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.6 for RHEL 7 Serverredhat_csaf
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3771
Fixedansible-0:2.7.4-1.el7ae.noarch as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2 for RHEL 7redhat_csaf
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3772
Fixedansible-0:2.7.4-1.el7ae.src as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2 for RHEL 7redhat_csaf
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3772
Fixedansible-0:2.7.4-1.el7ae.noarch as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.7 for RHEL 7 Serverredhat_csaf
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3773
Fixedansible-0:2.7.4-1.el7ae.src as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.7 for RHEL 7 Serverredhat_csaf
Before applying this update, make sure all previously released errata relevant to your system have been applied. For details on how to apply this update, refer to: https://access.redhat.com/articles/11258
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3773

cvss

Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.

4.4

010

base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode⚠ sources disagree · low–medium · 2.1–4.4

v2.02.1lowAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:Nprimary · NVD / NIST USexploitability 3.9 · impact 2.9

v3.04.4mediumCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:Nprimary · NVD / NIST USexploitability 0.8 · impact 3.6

v3.04.2mediumCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:Nsecondary · ENISA EU

v3.04.2mediumCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:Nsecondary · secalert@redhat.com USexploitability 0.6 · impact 3.6

v3.04.4mediumCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:Nsecondary · OSV

v3.04.1mediumCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N/E:Usecondary · CVSS-BT (t0sche)

v3.04.2mediumCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:Nsecondary · Red Hat Product Security US

weaknesses

The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.

CWE-532USprimaryCWE-532USCWE-532US

affected products (25)

Products and version ranges known to be affected.

Open Source Ansible <=2.8all versionscert_bundDE
SUSE Linuxall versionscert_bundDEcpe:/o:suse:suse_linux:-
SUSE openSUSEall versionscert_bundDEcpe:/o:suse:opensuse:-
Open Source Ansible≤ 2.8cert_bundDE
Red Hat Ansible≤ 2.8 and olderenisa_euvdEU
redhat ansible engine< 2.5.13nvdUScpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_engine:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat ansible engine2.6.0 → 2.6.10nvdUScpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_engine:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat ansible engine2.7.0 → 2.7.4nvdUScpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_engine:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat ansible engine2.7.5 → 2.8nvdUScpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_engine:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
PyPI ansible< 2.5.12osvUSpkg:pypi/ansible
PyPI ansible< 2.5.13osvUSpkg:pypi/ansible
PyPI ansible2.6.0 → 2.6.10osvUSpkg:pypi/ansible
PyPI ansible2.6.0a1 → 2.6.9osvUSpkg:pypi/ansible
PyPI ansible2.7.0 → 2.7.4osvUSpkg:pypi/ansible
PyPI ansible2.7.0a1 → 2.7.3osvUSpkg:pypi/ansible
PyPI ansible2.7.5 → 2.8.1osvUSpkg:pypi/ansible
ansible-0:2.5.13-1.el7ae.noarch as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.5 for RHEL 7 Serverall versionsfixedredhat_csafUS
ansible-0:2.5.13-1.el7ae.src as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.5 for RHEL 7 Serverall versionsfixedredhat_csafUS
ansible-0:2.6.10-1.el7ae.noarch as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.6 for RHEL 7 Serverall versionsfixedredhat_csafUS
ansible-0:2.6.10-1.el7ae.src as a component of Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.6 for RHEL 7 Serverall versionsfixedredhat_csafUS

showing 20 of 25

advisories (7)

Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.

RHSA-2018:3770Red Hat Security Advisory: ansible security and bug fix update2018-12-04csaf · redhat_csafUS
An update for ansible is now available for Ansible Engine 2.5. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Moderate. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.
RHSA-2018:3771Red Hat Security Advisory: ansible security and bug fix update2018-12-04csaf · redhat_csafUS
An update for ansible is now available for Ansible Engine 2.6. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Moderate. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.
RHSA-2018:3772Red Hat Security Advisory: ansible security and bug fix update2018-12-04csaf · redhat_csafUS
An update for ansible is now available for Ansible Engine 2. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Moderate. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.
RHSA-2018:3773Red Hat Security Advisory: ansible security and bug fix update2018-12-04csaf · redhat_csafUS
An update for ansible is now available for Ansible Engine 2.7. Red Hat Product Security has rated this update as having a security impact of Moderate. A Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS) base score, which gives a detailed severity rating, is available for each vulnerability from the CVE link(s) in the References section.
WID-SEC-W-2024-3598Ansible: Schwachstelle ermöglicht Offenlegung von InformationenDeutsch2018-12-04csaf · cert_bundDE
Ein lokaler Angreifer kann eine Schwachstelle in Ansible ausnutzen, um Informationen offenzulegen.
GHSA-v735-2pp6-h86rAnsible Logs Passwords If PowerShell ScriptBlock is Enabled2022-05-14ghsa · osvUS
Execution of Ansible playbooks on Windows platforms with PowerShell ScriptBlock logging and Module logging enabled can allow for 'become' passwords to appear in EventLogs in plaintext. A local user with administrator privileges on the machine can view these logs and discover the plaintext password. Ansible Engine 2.8 and older are believed to be vulnerable.
PYSEC-2018-602018-11-29vendor · osvUS
Execution of Ansible playbooks on Windows platforms with PowerShell ScriptBlock logging and Module logging enabled can allow for 'become' passwords to appear in EventLogs in plaintext. A local user with administrator privileges on the machine can view these logs and discover the plaintext password. Ansible Engine 2.8 and older are believed to be vulnerable.

also known as (6)

Other names and identifiers for this entity.

sources

Which sources assert this record, and when.

cnnvd enisa_euvd osv cert_bund nvd redhat_csaf NVD CVE.org MITRE

published 2018-11-29modified 2026-06-17

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+1484 more

references (28)

External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.

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