CVE-2021-20191
MEDIUMCVE-2021-20191 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) CWE-532 vulnerability in ansible. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2021-20191 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Insertion of Sensitive Information into Log File in ansible
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 ansible. Credentials, such as secrets, are being disclosed in console log by default and not protected by no_log feature when using those modules. An attacker can take advantage of this information to steal those credentials. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to data confidentiality. Versions before ansible 2.9.18 are affected.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.9.0a1&&< 2.9.18rc1 | 2.9.18rc1 |
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | all versions | 2.8.19rc1 |
| 🐍PyPI | ansible | ≥ 2.10.0a1&&< 2.10.7 | 2.10.7 |
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 2.9.18rc1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-20191 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-2021-20191 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-2021-20191. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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 shipped with Red Hat Gluster Storage (RHGS) 3 includes the vulnerable `network/nxos/nxos_*` modules. However, RHGS 3 no longer maintains its own version of Ansible, prerequisite is to enable ansible repository in order to consume the latest version of ansible which has many bug and security…
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2021-20191 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2021-20191 across PyPI dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.