RCE in Saltstack Salt
CVE-2020-16846
An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt through 3002. Sending crafted web requests to the Salt API, with the SSH client enabled, can result in shell injection.
Vulnerability class: Command Injection (OS Command Injection)
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.996 (99.9th percentile), scored .
Very high probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — among the top 0.1% most-likely-to-be-exploited CVEs. 100th percentile — 99.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.996 · newest: 0.996 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- Saltstack Salt — versions 3001, 3002
- Debian Linux — versions 9.0, 10.0
- Fedoraproject Fedora — versions 31
- openSUSE Leap — versions 15.1
Weakness classification (CWE)
CISA KEV (Known Exploited Vulnerabilities)
This CVE is on the CISA KEV catalog, added on . CISA KEV inclusion means CISA has confirmed in-the-wild exploitation; US federal agencies are required to remediate within a published due date.
BOD 22-01 due date: .
Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
- github.com/saltstack/salt/releases (Release Notes)
- www.saltstack.com/blog/on-november-3-2020-saltstack-publicly-disclosed-three-ne… (Broken Link, Vendor Advisory)
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/… (vendor-advisory, Release Notes)
- lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-11/msg00029.html (vendor-advisory, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
- security.gentoo.org/glsa/202011-13 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
- packetstormsecurity.com/files/160039/SaltStack-Salt-REST-API-Arbitrary-Command-… (Exploit, VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
- www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1381/ (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
- www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1383/ (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
- www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1380/ (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
- www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1379/ (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2020-16846?
- CVE-2020-16846 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Saltstack Salt, classified under OS Command Injection. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-11-06.
- How severe is CVE-2020-16846?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2020-16846 known to be exploited?
- Yes. CVE-2020-16846 is listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), indicating it is being actively exploited. 38 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed.