Ansible "User" module leaks any data which is passed on as a parameter to ssh-keygen. This could lean in undesirable situations such as passphrases credentials passed as a parameter for the ssh-keygen executable. Showing those credentials in clear text form for every user which have access just to the process list.
CVE-2018-16837
This high-severity CVE scores 7.8 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 0.4%, top 72% of all CVEs by exploit prediction. GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 7.8
- EG Score
- 7.8(medium)
- EG Risk
- 40(Track)EG Risk 40/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity78% × 45%Exploitation0% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 0%
- EPSS %ILE
- 28%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
October 23, 2018
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
References (27)
- secalert@redhathttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-04/msg00021.html
- secalert@redhathttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-06/msg00077.html
- secalert@redhathttp://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-08/msg00020.html
- secalert@redhathttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105700
- secalert@redhathttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3460
- secalert@redhathttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3461
- secalert@redhathttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3462
- secalert@redhathttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3463
- secalert@redhathttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3505
- secalert@redhathttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16837
- secalert@redhathttps://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/11/msg00012.html
- secalert@redhathttps://usn.ubuntu.com/4072-1/
- secalert@redhathttps://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4396
- nvd@nisthttps://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2018-16837
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-04/msg00021.html
Patch Availability(6)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | ansible-node-fireball (2.0.0.2-2ubuntu1.3) @ xenial | 2026-05-28 | ubuntu |
| redhat | ansible-0:2.6.11-1.el7ae | 2019-03-18 | redhat |
| redhat | rhosp-release-0:13.0.5-1.el7ost | 2019-03-14 | redhat |
| redhat | ansible-0:2.7.1-1.el7ae | 2018-11-05 | redhat |
| redhat | ansible-0:2.5.11-1.el7ae | 2018-11-05 | redhat |
| redhat | ansible-0:2.6.7-1.el7ae | 2018-11-05 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(9 across 9 ecosystems)
Alpine:v3.8(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ansible | 0.3.1-r0 ... 2.5.5-r0 (60 versions) | 2.5.11-r0 | — |
Alpine:v3.9(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ansible | 0.3.1-r0 ... 2.7.0-r1 (65 versions) | 2.7.1-r0 | — |
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ansible | — | 2.7.1+dfsg-1 | — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ansible | — | 2.7.1+dfsg-1 | — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ansible | — | 2.7.1+dfsg-1 | — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ansible | — | 2.7.1+dfsg-1 | — |
Debian:8(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ansible | 1.7.2+dfsg-2 | 1.7.2+dfsg-2+deb8u1 | — |
Debian:9(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ansible | 2.2.1.0-2 | 2.2.1.0-2+deb9u1 | — |
PyPI(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ansible | 1.0 ... 2.7.0 (103 versions) | 2.5.11 | — |
Weakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
All Vendor Advisories
(7)
Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.
- Red HatRHSA-2018:3460MODERATE2018-10-23
RHSA-2018:3460 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2018:3461MODERATE2018-10-23
RHSA-2018:3461 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2018:3462MODERATE2018-10-23
RHSA-2018:3462 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2018:3463MODERATE2018-10-23
RHSA-2018:3463 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2019:0564MODERATE2018-10-23
RHSA-2019:0564 — Moderate
- Red HatRHSA-2019:0590MODERATE2018-10-23
RHSA-2019:0590 — Moderate
- UbuntuUSN-4072-1MEDIUM
Ansible vulnerabilities
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 6× in last 7d / 26× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 127 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-08-25 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-23 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-22 07:37 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-21 23:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-20 22:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-19 17:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-18 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-17 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-16 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-16 02:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-15 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-13 21:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-12 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-11 13:36 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-09 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-08 16:32 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-07 16:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-06 10:40 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-04 15:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-02 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-01 04:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 01:27 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 75 moreShow fewer
- 2026-07-28 15:32 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-26 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-26 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 01:34 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 22:14 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 03:47 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 06:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 15:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-03 22:56 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-02 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-29 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-15 11:13 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-14 23:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-14 23:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-13 22:58 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-11 13:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 22:16 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 13:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2018-16837?
When was CVE-2018-16837 disclosed?
Is CVE-2018-16837 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-16837?
How do I remediate CVE-2018-16837?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2018-16837
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2018-16837?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.