dbcve.org
AnsibleApplication · Redhat

CVE-2014-4659

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
Ansible before 1.5.5 sets 0644 permissions for sources.list, which might allow local users to obtain sensitive credential information in opportunistic circumstances by reading a file that uses the "deb http://user:pass@server:port/" format.

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

Ansible versions before 1.5.5 create the sources.list file with overly permissive 0644 permissions (readable by all local users). When credentials are embedded in the Debian repository URL format 'deb http://user:pass@server:port/', local users can read these credentials from the file in opportunistic circumstances.

MitigationUpgrade Ansible to version 1.5.5 or later which sets restrictive permissions (0600) on sources.list, and avoid embedding credentials directly in repository URLs.

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. Check installed Ansible version
    Run 'ansible --version' and note the version number in the output
    Affected if The version shown is before 1.5.5 (e.g., 1.5.4, 1.4.x, etc.)
  2. Locate the sources.list file
    By default, Ansible creates /etc/apt/sources.list; check if this file exists on the managed host
    Affected if The sources.list file exists in /etc/apt/ or the Ansible control node's configured apt_sources_path
  3. Verify file permissions on sources.list
    Run 'ls -la /etc/apt/sources.list' (or the path used by your Ansible setup) and check the permission bits
    Affected if The file permissions are 0644 (rw-r--r--) meaning world-readable
  4. Inspect sources.list for embedded credentials
    Read the sources.list file and look for URLs in the format 'deb http://user:pass@server:port/'
    Affected if The file contains repository URLs with username and password embedded in the URL (e.g., deb http://admin:[email protected]/...)

You are affected if Ansible version is before 1.5.5 AND the sources.list file has world-readable (0644) permissions AND contains repository URLs with embedded 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 sets restrictive permissions (0600) on sources.list, and avoid embedding credentials directly in repository URLs.

Fix this in Ansible Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-4659 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2014-4659 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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