CVE-2020-14332 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) CWE-117 vulnerability in ansible. A fix is available for ansible — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File and Improper Output Neutralization for Logs in ansible
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-14332 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,738 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Real-World Exposure
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 flaw was found in the Ansible Engine when using module_args. Tasks executed with check mode (--check-mode) do not properly neutralize sensitive data exposed in the event data. This flaw allows unauthorized users to read this data. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | all versions | 2.8.14pip install --upgrade 'ansible==2.8.14' |
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.9.0a1&&< 2.9.12 | 2.9.12pip install --upgrade 'ansible==2.9.12' |
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.10.0a1&&< 2.10.1rc2 | 2.10.1rc2pip install --upgrade 'ansible==2.10.1rc2' |
Affected Products
debian linuxdebianansible engineredhatDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for ansible, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update ansible to 2.8.14 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-14332 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.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
The version of ansible provided in Red Hat Gluster Storage 3, Red Hat Ceph Storage 2 and 3 does not contain the vulnerable functionality and is not affected by this vulnerability. Additionally, these storage products no longer maintains their own version of ansible and fixes are consumed from core Ansible repository.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Ansible Engine 2.8 for RHEL 7 | ansible-0:2.8.15-1.el7ae | RHSA-2020:3600 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-14332 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.