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Ansible TowerApplication · Redhat

CVE-2019-14890

HIGH · 8.4 CVSS v3.1 Published 2019-11-26
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
86/100
Remediation priority · High
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
A vulnerability was found in Ansible Tower before 3.6.1 where an attacker with low privilege could retrieve usernames and passwords credentials from the new RHSM saved in plain text into the database at '/api/v2/config' when applying the Ansible Tower license.

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

A vulnerability in Ansible Tower before version 3.6.1 allows low-privileged authenticated users to retrieve plain-text usernames and passwords for RHSM (Red Hat Subscription Management) credentials through the /api/v2/config API endpoint. The credentials are stored in plain text in the database when applying the Tower license, creating an information disclosure exposure.

MitigationUpgrade Ansible Tower to version 3.6.1 or later, which addresses the plain-text credential storage issue. Alternatively, if upgrading is not immediately possible, restrict access to the /api/v2/config endpoint to administrative users only until the upgrade can be performed.

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:= 3.6.0

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/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. Verify Ansible Tower version
    Check the installed Ansible Tower version. In the Tower UI, go to Settings > About, or run `awx-manage --version` from the Tower CLI. Alternatively, check the RPM package with `rpm -q ansible-tower` or inspect the `/var/lib/awx/venv/awx/lib/python*/site-packages/awx/__init__.py` version file.
    Affected if The installed version is 3.6.0 exactly, or any version earlier than 3.6.1.
  2. Confirm low-privileged user access to API endpoint
    Using a low-privileged (non-admin) user account, authenticate to the Tower API and make a GET request to the /api/v2/config endpoint. This can be done with curl: `curl -k -u <lowpriv_user> https://<tower_host>/api/v2/config`
    Affected if The API returns a successful HTTP 200 response with JSON data rather than a 403 Forbidden error.
  3. Inspect API response for RHSM credential fields
    Examine the JSON response from the /api/v2/config endpoint for the presence of credential-related fields. Look for keys such as 'rhsm_username', 'rhsm_password', 'redhat_username', or similar fields under a 'subscription' or 'licensing' section within the returned configuration data.
    Affected if The response contains fields showing plain-text username and password values for Red Hat Subscription Management credentials.
  4. Verify credential exposure severity
    Compare the exposed credentials in the API response against the actual RHSM credentials configured in Tower. Check if the password field contains the actual plain-text password rather than a masked value or hash.
    Affected if The password field contains the actual plain-text password in readable form rather than being masked, hashed, or empty.

You are affected if Ansible Tower version is 3.6.0 and the /api/v2/config endpoint is accessible to non-admin users who can see plain-text RHSM credentials in the response.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Ansible Tower to version 3.6.1 or later, which addresses the plain-text credential storage issue. Alternatively, if upgrading is not immediately possible, restrict access to the /api/v2/config endpoint to administrative users only until the upgrade can be performed.

Fix this in Ansible Tower 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
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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-2019-14890 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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