How severe is CVE-2018-16859?

CVE-2018-16859 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 4.2, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires high privileges and user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity none, and availability none.

Is CVE-2018-16859 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (41st percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2018-16859?

CVE-2018-16859 affects Redhat Ansible Engine. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.

How do I fix CVE-2018-16859?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.

When was CVE-2018-16859 published?

CVE-2018-16859 was published on 2018-11-29 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2018-16859

CVE-2018-16859 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Redhat Ansible Engine with a CVSS 3.x base score of 4.2. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-532.

Key facts

Severity: Medium (CVSS 3.x base score 4.2)
CVSS v2: 2.1
EPSS exploit prediction: 1% (41st percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-532
Affected product: Redhat Ansible Engine
Published: 2018-11-29
Last modified: 2026-06-17

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.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-16859?: 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.
How severe is CVE-2018-16859?: CVE-2018-16859 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 4.2, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires high privileges and user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity none, and availability none.
Is CVE-2018-16859 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (41st percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2018-16859?: CVE-2018-16859 affects Redhat Ansible Engine. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2018-16859?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2018-16859 published?: CVE-2018-16859 was published on 2018-11-29 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (1)

cpe:2.3:a:redhat:ansible_engine:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Redhat Ansible Engine

CVE-2017-7481 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Ansible before versions 2.3.1.0 and 2.4.0.0 fails to properly mark lookup-plugin results as unsafe. If an attacker…
CVE-2018-7750 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): transport.py in the SSH server implementation of Paramiko before 1.17.6, 1.18.x before 1.18.5, 2.0.x before 2.0.8,…
CVE-2019-14846 — High (CVSS 7.8): In Ansible, all Ansible Engine versions up to ansible-engine 2.8.5, ansible-engine 2.7.13, ansible-engine 2.6.19, were…
CVE-2018-16837 — High (CVSS 7.8): Ansible "User" module leaks any data which is passed on as a parameter to ssh-keygen. This could lean in undesirable…
CVE-2018-10875 — High (CVSS 7.8): A flaw was found in ansible. ansible.cfg is read from the current working directory which can be altered to make it…
CVE-2018-10874 — High (CVSS 7.8): In ansible it was found that inventory variables are loaded from current working directory when running ad-hoc command…

All CVEs affecting Redhat Ansible Engine →

Other CWE-532 (Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File) vulnerabilities

CVE-2022-36407 — Critical (CVSS 9.9): Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File vulnerability in Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform, Hitachi Virtual…
CVE-2023-40029 — Critical (CVSS 9.9): Argo CD is a declarative continuous deployment for Kubernetes. Argo CD Cluster secrets might be managed declaratively…
CVE-2021-32724 — Critical (CVSS 9.9): check-spelling is a github action which provides CI spell checking. In affected versions and for a repository with the…
CVE-2026-49200 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): The acer_cgi.log file in the device firmware is accessible without authentication via the web interface. This file…
CVE-2026-22778 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): vLLM is an inference and serving engine for large language models (LLMs). From 0.8.3 to before 0.14.1, when an invalid…
CVE-2025-11008 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): The CE21 Suite plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Sensitive Information Exposure in all versions up to, and…

Browse all CWE-532 (Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File) vulnerabilities →