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AnsibleApplication · Redhat

CVE-2013-2233

HIGH · 7.4 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-05-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.2.1 or later.
See remediation →
83/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Ansible before 1.2.1 makes it easier for remote attackers to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks by leveraging failure to cache SSH host keys.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

Ansible before version 1.2.1 fails to properly cache SSH host keys, allowing remote attackers to conduct man-in-the-middle attacks by intercepting SSH communications between the Ansible controller and managed hosts. The vulnerability stems from the lack of proper SSH host key verification and caching mechanisms.

MitigationUpgrade Ansible to version 1.2.1 or later, which includes proper SSH host key caching. After upgrading, verify that SSH StrictHostKeyChecking is appropriately configured to enable host key verification while allowing legitimate host key updates.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
AnsibleApplication
Affected:< 1.2.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed Ansible version
    Run 'ansible --version' or 'ansible-playbook --version' to determine the installed version number
    Affected if The version displayed is earlier than 1.2.1 (for example, 1.2.0, 1.1, 1.0, etc.)
  2. Identify Ansible configuration file location
    Check for ansible.cfg in /etc/ansible/, current working directory, or ~/.ansible.cfg, or run 'ansible --version' to see the config file path
    Affected if No ansible.cfg exists or the file is missing SSH-related host key settings
  3. Inspect SSH host key checking configuration
    Look for 'host_key_checking' or 'StrictHostKeyChecking' settings in ansible.cfg under [defaults] or [ssh_connection] sections, and check if StrictHostKeyChecking is set to 'yes' or 'true'
    Affected if Host key checking is disabled (set to 'no' or 'false') or not explicitly configured at all in Ansible versions before 1.2.1

You are affected if running Ansible version 1.2.0 or earlier AND SSH host key verification is not properly enabled in your Ansible configuration.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.2.1 or later
Fixed in 1.2.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Ansible to version 1.2.1 or later, which includes proper SSH host key caching. After upgrading, verify that SSH StrictHostKeyChecking is appropriately configured to enable host key verification while allowing legitimate host key updates.

Fix this in Ansible Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-2233 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data