CVE-2018-16849: Mistral Openstack-mistral Discloses The Presence Of Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-fqw7-c6vr-q29m
Share
CVSS 7.5
CWE-200
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2018-16849 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) openstack-mistral discloses the presence of vulnerability (CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor) affecting Mistral libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves openstack-mistral discloses the presence of arbitrary files within the filesystem. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 7.0.1.

CVE-2018-16849 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2018-16849
GHSA Identifier GHSA-fqw7-c6vr-q29m
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Affected Product Mistral
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2018-16849

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Mistral dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

mistral fixed: 7.0.1 
pip install mistral>=7.0.1
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

pip show mistral

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2018-16849, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show mistral

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Mistral in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 7.0.1), your application is affected.

Note: The pip show mistral command checks currently installed packages in your active Python environment.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor, where the product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information. In Mistral, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

A flaw was found in openstack-mistral. By manipulating the SSH private key filename, the std.ssh action can be used to disclose the presence of arbitrary files within the filesystem of the executor running the action. Since std.ssh private_key_filename can take an absolute path, it can be used to assess whether or not a file exists on the executor's filesystem.

CVE-2018-16849 Affected Mistral Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
7.0.1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
mistral
pypi/mistral
PyPI
< 7.0.1
7.0.1

References

NVD — CVE-2018-16849 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-16849
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/openstack/mistral/commit/2309e5265a1d5f28480ae872817b5de05f66e83c
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/openstack/mistral/commit/c93b45a61f49d4633f76d8e117cd89063e7759c4
bugs.launchpad.net/mistral/+bug/178370... WEB
https://bugs.launchpad.net/mistral/+bug/1783708
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi WEB
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16849
Mistral Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/openstack/mistral
Mistral Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/mistral/PYSEC-2018-92.yaml

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2018-16849?
CVE-2018-16849 is a security vulnerability in Mistral involving openstack-mistral Discloses the presence of arbitrary files within the filesystem under CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor.
Which Mistral versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 7.0.1 across affected packages: mistral.
What version fixes CVE-2018-16849?
Upgrading to 7.0.1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is mistral affected?
Yes, mistral is affected in releases prior to 7.0.1. Upgrade your dependency to 7.0.1 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-16849?
CVE-2018-16849 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2018-16849?
CVE-2018-16849 is classified under CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor (The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2018-16849?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show mistral'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-fqw7-c6vr-q29m",
  "modified" : "2024-09-24T21:06:45Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-13T01:34:06Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2018-16849" ],
  "summary" : "openstack-mistral Discloses the presence of arbitrary files within the filesystem",
  "details" : "A flaw was found in openstack-mistral. By manipulating the SSH private key filename, the std.ssh action can be used to disclose the presence of arbitrary files within the filesystem of the executor running the action. Since std.ssh private_key_filename can take an absolute path, it can be used to assess whether or not a file exists on the executor's filesystem.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "mistral"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "7.0.1"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-16849"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openstack/mistral/commit/2309e5265a1d5f28480ae872817b5de05f66e83c"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openstack/mistral/commit/c93b45a61f49d4633f76d8e117cd89063e7759c4"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://bugs.launchpad.net/mistral/+bug/1783708"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2018-16849"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/openstack/mistral"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/mistral/PYSEC-2018-92.yaml"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-200" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2024-04-29T14:42:50Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2018-11-02T21:29:00Z"
  }
}