CVE-2021-20180
Ansible vulnerability analysis and mitigation

Overview

A security flaw (CVE-2021-20180) was discovered in the Ansible module where credentials are disclosed in the console log by default when using the bitbucket_pipeline_variable module. This vulnerability was identified in early 2021 and affects the Ansible automation platform (Debian Security, Red Hat CVE).

Technical details

The vulnerability exists in the bitbucket_pipeline_variable module of Ansible, where sensitive information such as secret values are not properly protected by the security feature and are exposed in the console log by default. This security issue affects multiple versions of Ansible Engine and Ansible Automation Platform (Red Hat Advisory).

Impact

The primary impact of this vulnerability is on confidentiality, as it allows attackers to steal bitbucket_pipeline credentials. Any user with access to the playbook execution output could potentially view these exposed sensitive credentials (Debian Security).

Mitigation and workarounds

The vulnerability was addressed in Ansible version 2.9.18. Red Hat released security updates through multiple advisories including RHSA-2021:0663 and RHSA-2021:1079 to fix this issue. Users are advised to upgrade to the patched versions (Red Hat Advisory).

Community reactions

The vulnerability was acknowledged and credited to Abhijeet Kasurde from Red Hat, who discovered and reported the issue (Red Hat Bugzilla).

Additional resources


SourceThis report was generated using AI

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