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AnsibleApplication · Redhat

CVE-2016-8628

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-07-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.2.0 or later.
See remediation →
97/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable 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 version 2.2.0 fails to properly sanitize fact variables sent from the Ansible controller. An attacker with the ability to create special variables on the controller could execute arbitrary commands on Ansible clients as the user Ansible runs as.

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 before version 2.2.0 fails to properly sanitize fact variables sent from the Ansible controller. An attacker with the ability to create special variables on the controller could execute arbitrary commands on Ansible clients as the user Ansible runs on those clients.

MitigationUpgrade Ansible to version 2.2.0 or later. Until then, restrict access to the Ansible controller and prevent untrusted users from creating or modifying fact variables.

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:< 2.2.0

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
Low
Privileges
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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 'pip show ansible' to see the installed version number
    Affected if The version displayed is before 2.2.0 (e.g., 2.1.x, 2.0.x, 1.x)
  2. Identify who has access to the Ansible controller
    Review user accounts and permissions on the system where Ansible playbooks are executed (the controller). Check for untrusted or non-admin users with file system access to playbook, inventory, or variable files.
    Affected if Untrusted users can write to Ansible playbook, inventory, or variable files on the controller
  3. Inspect Ansible fact variable usage
    Search playbook files (*.yml) and variable files for use of {{ ansible_facts }} or setup module calls, particularly any that reference user-controlled variables
    Affected if Playbooks dynamically use variables as fact names without sanitization
  4. Review Ansible configuration for fact gathering
    Check ansible.cfg for 'gathering' setting and review if 'gather_facts: yes' is used in playbooks. Examine if host or group variables files exist in 'host_vars/' or 'group_vars/' directories.
    Affected if Fact gathering is enabled and untrusted users can modify host/group variables

You are affected if Ansible version is below 2.2.0 AND untrusted users can create or modify variables, playbooks, or inventory on the Ansible controller that then get passed to managed hosts.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.2.0 or later
Fixed in 2.2.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Ansible to version 2.2.0 or later. Until then, restrict access to the Ansible controller and prevent untrusted users from creating or modifying fact variables.

Recommended fix High confidence

Ansible 2.2.0 or later

  1. 1. Backup your current Ansible configuration, playbooks, and inventory files
  2. 2. Check your current Ansible version by running: ansible --version
  3. 3. For pip-based installations, upgrade Ansible using: pip install --upgrade ansible
  4. 4. For package manager-based installations (yum/apt), update the package: yum update ansible or apt-get install ansible
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade was successful by running: ansible --version
  6. 6. Ensure the installed version is 2.2.0 or later
  7. 7. Test your playbooks in a non-production environment before deploying to production
Caveat Major version upgrades may introduce breaking changes; review Ansible 2.2 release notes for any incompatibilities with your playbooks

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Ansible Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,120
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,992.

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-2016-8628 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