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AnsibleApplication · Redhat

CVE-2014-4658

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-02-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.5.5 or later.
See remediation →
57/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
The vault subsystem in Ansible before 1.5.5 does not set the umask before creation or modification of a vault file, which allows local users to obtain sensitive key information by reading a file.

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 · high confidence

The Ansible vault subsystem before version 1.5.5 does not set a restrictive umask before creating or modifying vault files, resulting in overly permissive file permissions (typically 0644) that allow any local user to read sensitive encryption key material stored in these files.

MitigationUpgrade Ansible to version 1.5.5 or later, which properly sets umask before vault file operations to restrict permissions. Alternatively, manually fix permissions on existing vault files using chmod 0600.

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:< 1.5.5

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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. Identify installed Ansible version
    Run 'ansible --version' or 'ansible-playbook --version' and note the version number in the output
    Affected if The version shown is earlier than 1.5.5 (e.g., 1.5.4, 1.5.3, 1.4 or earlier)
  2. Locate Ansible vault files
    Search for files named 'vault' or containing 'vault' in the filename, typically found in the same directories as playbooks or in the Ansible configuration, often with names like '.vault_pass.txt' or files specified with the '--vault-password-file' option
    Affected if Any vault password files or vault-encrypted files exist on the system
  3. Inspect vault file permissions
    Run 'ls -la <vault_file_path>' for each identified vault file to view the permission bits (e.g., -rw-r--r--)
    Affected if The file permissions show '0644' or any mode that grants read access to users other than the owner (such as world-readable or group-readable)

You are affected if you run Ansible version 1.5.4 or earlier and have vault password files or vault-encrypted files with permissions 0644 or more permissive, allowing other local users to read sensitive encryption credentials.

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 1.5.5 or later
Fixed in 1.5.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Ansible to version 1.5.5 or later, which properly sets umask before vault file operations to restrict permissions. Alternatively, manually fix permissions on existing vault files using chmod 0600.

Fix this in Ansible Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $890
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,424.

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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-2014-4658 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