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Ansible TowerApplication · Redhat

CVE-2018-16879

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-01-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.3.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 Tower before version 3.3.3 does not set a secure channel as it is using the default insecure configuration channel settings for messaging celery workers from RabbitMQ. This could lead in data leak of sensitive information such as passwords as well as denial of service attacks by deleting projects or inventory files.

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 Tower before 3.3.3 uses default insecure RabbitMQ channel settings for celery worker communication, exposing sensitive data like passwords in plaintext and allowing attackers to delete projects or inventory files via the unsecured messaging channel.

MitigationUpgrade Ansible Tower to version 3.3.3 or later, which implements secure channel configuration for RabbitMQ messaging.

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
Ansible TowerApplication
Affected:< 3.3.3

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/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. Identify Ansible Tower version
    Run 'awx-manage --version' or check the Tower UI under 'Settings > About' to determine the installed Ansible Tower version number
    Affected if The installed version is before 3.3.3 (for example, 3.3.0, 3.2.x, or earlier)
  2. Locate RabbitMQ configuration
    Inspect the RabbitMQ configuration files used by Tower, typically found in /etc/tower/conf.d/ or within the Tower installation directory under /var/lib/awx/rabbitmq/
    Affected if RabbitMQ settings use default ports (5672/5671) without TLS/SSL encryption enabled, or show no certificate verification settings
  3. Verify celery worker transport settings
    Examine the celery configuration for the Tower awx celery workers, looking for the broker_url or broker_transport option in the settings
    Affected if The broker uses an unencrypted connection string (amqp://) rather than an encrypted one (amqps://), or disables SSL verification
  4. Check for sensitive data in message logs
    Review RabbitMQ message logs or Tower job event stdout for plaintext exposure of credentials, passwords, or API tokens in celery messages
    Affected if Plaintext passwords, API keys, or other secrets appear in RabbitMQ message payloads or job output logs

You are affected if running Ansible Tower version 3.3.3 or earlier with default unsecured RabbitMQ celery worker communication settings that transmit sensitive data in plaintext

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 3.3.3 or later
Fixed in 3.3.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Ansible Tower to version 3.3.3 or later, which implements secure channel configuration for RabbitMQ messaging.

Recommended fix High confidence

Ansible Tower 3.3.3

  1. Backup your current Ansible Tower configuration and data
  2. Upgrade Ansible Tower to version 3.3.3 or later which includes the secure RabbitMQ channel configuration
  3. After upgrade, verify that the RabbitMQ messaging layer is using secure (TLS/SSL) configuration
  4. Confirm that celery workers can communicate properly with RabbitMQ over the secure channel
  5. Verify that sensitive data (passwords) is no longer transmitted in plaintext

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

Fix this in Ansible Tower Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

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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-2018-16879 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