# CVE-2021-3681: Information disclosure in ansible

> Manual collection builds may leak sensitive API keys and secrets if not explicitly excluded, exposing them to anyone downloading the published collection.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 18 Apr 2022
- **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-wh68-r6p4-7cv3

## What is CVE-2021-3681?

CVE-2021-3681 is a medium-severity vulnerability in ansible, published on 18 Apr 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A flaw was found in Ansible Galaxy Collections. When collections are built manually, any files in the repository directory that are not explicitly excluded via the ``build_ignore`` list in "galaxy.yml" include files in the ``.tar.gz`` file. This contains sensitive info, such as the user's Ansible Galaxy API key and any secrets in ``ansible`` or ``ansible-playbook`` verbose output without the``no_log`` redaction. Currently, there is no way to deprecate a Collection Or delete a Collection Version. Once published, anyone who downloads or installs the collection can view the secrets.

Weakness: CWE-522 (Insufficiently Protected Credentials)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2021-3681?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Redhat Ansible Automation Platform, Redhat Ansible Galaxy.

## How do I fix CVE-2021-3681?

No fix has been published for CVE-2021-3681 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2021-3681 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-3681 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in ansible

- [CVE-2021-4112](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-4112/): Privilege escalation in ansible-tower (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2023-4237](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-4237/): Platform: ec2_key module prints out the private key directly to the standard output (high 7.3)
- [CVE-2021-3583](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3583/): Improper Input Validation and Command Injection in Ansible (high 7.1)
- [CVE-2025-9907](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-9907/): Event-driven-ansible: event stream test mode exposes sensitive headers in aap eda (medium 6.7)
- [CVE-2025-9908](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-9908/): Event-driven-ansible: sensitive internal headers disclosure in aap eda event streams (medium 6.7)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2021-3681 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2021-3681 is a medium-severity vulnerability in ansible, published on 18 Apr 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2021-3681 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: ansible. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3681/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3681/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2021-3681
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-3681
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2021-3681

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-3681/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.