CVE-2018-16849
HIGHCVE-2018-16849 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Information Exposure vulnerability in mistral. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2018-16849 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
openstack-mistral Discloses the presence of arbitrary files within the filesystem
Blast Radius
mistralReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
A flaw was found in openstack-mistral. By manipulating the SSH private key filename, the std.ssh action can be used to disclose the presence of arbitrary files within the filesystem of the executor running the action. Since std.ssh private_key_filename can take an absolute path, it can be used to assess whether or not a file exists on the executor's filesystem.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | mistral | all versions | 7.0.1 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for mistral. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update mistral to 7.0.1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2018-16849 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2018-16849 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2018-16849. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2018-16849 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2018-16849 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.