CVE-2019-14858
MEDIUMCVE-2019-14858 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) CWE-117 vulnerability in ansible. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2019-14858 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Ansible leaks sensitive information to logs when told not to
Blast Radius
ansible🐍ansible🐍ansible🐍ansibleReal-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 vulnerability was found in Ansible engine 2.x up to 2.8 and Ansible tower 3.x up to 3.5. When a module has an argument_spec with sub parameters marked as no_log, passing an invalid parameter name to the module will cause the task to fail before the no_log options in the sub parameters are processed. As a result, data in the sub parameter fields will not be masked and will be displayed if Ansible is run with increased verbosity and present in the module invocation arguments for the task.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.9.0a1&&< 2.9.0rc4 | 2.9.0rc4 |
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.8.0a1&&< 2.8.6 | 2.8.6 |
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.7.0a1&&< 2.7.14 | 2.7.14 |
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.0&&< 2.6.20 | 2.6.20 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ansible. 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 ansible to 2.9.0rc4 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-14858 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-2019-14858 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-2019-14858. 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-2019-14858 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2019-14858 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.