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CVE-2018-16837

25
FAUCET Score

CVE-2018-16837 describes a vulnerability in the Ansible "User" module that can leak sensitive data, such as passphrases or credentials, when passed as parameters to ssh-keygen. This information becomes visible in clear text within the process list, affecting Debian, Red Hat, and SUSE systems. With a CVSS score of 7.8 (High), this local vulnerability allows an attacker with low privileges to achieve high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts. There is no evidence of active exploitation, publicly available exploit code (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB), or significant community discussion or media coverage surrounding this CVE.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
2.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_engine:2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
2.5CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_engine:2.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
2.6CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_engine:2.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
2.7CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_engine:2.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
3.3.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_tower:3.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

7.8HIGH

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
1.8
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
0.35%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
28.0%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-26
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0035 is in the 66th percentile among its peer group of 16,994 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.2 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.2 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (26)

pippatch availablevia ghsa
Product: ansibleFixed in: 2.6.7
pippatch availablevia ghsa
Product: ansibleFixed in: 2.5.11
pippatch availablevia ghsa
Product: ansibleFixed in: 2.7.1
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.7 for RHEL 7Fixed in: ansible-0:2.7.1-1.el7ae
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Ansible Engine 2 for RHEL 7Fixed in: ansible-0:2.7.1-1.el7ae
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: ansible-0:2.6.11-1.el7ae
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: openstack-ec2-api-0:6.0.1-0.20181123223255.1e25260.el7ost
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: openstack-manila-1:6.0.2-5.el7ost
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: openstack-selinux-0:0.8.17-2.el7ost
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: openstack-tempest-1:18.0.0-6.el7ost
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: os-apply-config-0:8.3.1-0.20180831234255.be699ba.el7ost
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.5 for RHEL 7Fixed in: ansible-0:2.5.11-1.el7ae
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.6 for RHEL 7Fixed in: ansible-0:2.6.7-1.el7ae
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: python-openstacksdk-0:0.11.3-2.el7ost
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: python-vmware-nsxlib-0:12.0.4-3.el7ost
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: rhosp-release-0:13.0.5-1.el7ost
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 14.0 (Rocky)Fixed in: ansible-0:2.6.11-1.el7ae
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: python-barbicanclient-0:4.6.0-2.el7ost
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: python-docker-0:2.4.2-2.el7
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: python-heat-tests-tempest-0:0.1.1-0.20180514163845.9d99219.el7ost
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: python-novajoin-0:1.0.22-1.el7ost
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 13.0 (Queens)Fixed in: python-openstackclient-0:3.14.3-2.el7ost
View patch
redhatvendor investigatingvia nvd_reference
View patch
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Ceph Storage 3Fixed in: ansible
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat OpenStack Platform 10 (Newton)Fixed in: ansible
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Storage 3Fixed in: ansible

Vendor Advisories (2)

pipGHSA-hwrm-63v2-42g4high

Ansible Leaks Data Passed to ssh-keygen

May 13, 2022
redhatCVE-2018-16837Moderate

Ansible: Information leak in "user" module

Oct 23, 2018

References

access.redhat.com / security/cve/cve-2018-16837
Vendor Advisory
lists.opensuse.org / opensuse-security-announce/2019-04/msg00021.html
Third Party Advisory
lists.opensuse.org / opensuse-security-announce/2019-06/msg00077.html
lists.opensuse.org / opensuse-security-announce/2019-08/msg00020.html
access.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2018:3460
Vendor Advisory
access.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2018:3461
Vendor Advisory
access.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2018:3462
Vendor Advisory
access.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2018:3463
Vendor Advisory
access.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2018:3505
Vendor Advisory
bugzilla.redhat.com / show_bug.cgi
Issue TrackingVendor Advisory
lists.debian.org / debian-lts-announce/2018/11/msg00012.html
Mailing ListThird Party Advisory
usn.ubuntu.com / 4072-1
debian.org / security/2019/dsa-4396
Third Party Advisory
securityfocus.com / bid/105700
Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry