CVE-2018-16859

MEDIUM
4.2
CVSS Score
Published: November 29, 2018 at 05:00 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 01:44 AM UTC
2 products affected across 1 vendorAnsible EngineAnsible

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Severity
MEDIUM4.2
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.5%

Description

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.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

v < 2.5.132.6.0 ≤ v < 2.6.102.7.0 ≤ v < 2.7.42.7.5 ≤ v ≤ 2.8
Affected range stops below 2.5.13, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2.6.10, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2.7.4, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
v ≤ 2.8

CVSS

4.2MEDIUMredhat
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
HIGH
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
CWE-532

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