CVE-2023-4380

What it actually does

The flaw causes credentials supplied during private project creation to be written to logs in plaintext on authentication failure, exposing authentication secrets.

Why it matters to the business

Exposure of stored credentials can lead to unauthorized access to private repositories and downstream systems, enabling data theft, configuration tampering, or operational disruption across automation environments with many dependent projects.

How an attack unfolds

An attacker with read access to application logs locates entries generated by failed private-project creations, extracts the plaintext credentials, and reuses them to access linked repositories or execute further actions within the automation platform.

How to fix it

Upgrade to a patched release of Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform that prevents plaintext credential logging; until a fix is available, apply log redaction rules to mask credential fields and rotate any credentials previously used in private projects.

How to confirm the fix worked

Create test private projects with deliberately incorrect credentials and confirm that resulting log entries contain no plaintext secrets; scan historical logs for any prior occurrences of exposed credential strings.

Typical attack path

1. Obtain read access to Ansible application or system logs
2. Search logs for private project creation events containing authentication failures
3. Extract the exposed plaintext credentials
4. Authenticate to the referenced private repositories or services

How to detect it

Search application and system logs for private-project creation events paired with authentication failure messages; look for subsequent authentication attempts using the same credential values outside expected automation flows.

• private project.*credential
• incorrect credentials.*log
• plaintext.*password
• project creation.*auth failure

What your security team should do

• Immediately audit logs for any plaintext credentials from project creation events
• Rotate all credentials that may have been logged
• Implement log filtering or sanitization to prevent future plaintext exposure
• Monitor for availability of official patches and apply them promptly