What is CVE-2020-25592?

CVE-2020-25592 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Saltstack Salt, classified under Improper Authentication. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-11-06.

How severe is CVE-2020-25592?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Is CVE-2020-25592 known to be exploited?

7 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Auth bypass in Saltstack Salt

CVE-2020-25592

In SaltStack Salt through 3002, salt-netapi improperly validates eauth credentials and tokens. A user can bypass authentication and invoke Salt SSH.

Vulnerability class: Broken Authentication

Published 2020-11-06 · last modified 2026-06-17.

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: 0.568 (99.1th percentile), scored 2026-10-29.

High probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — patch promptly. 99th percentile — 99.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.577 · newest: 0.568 · change: -0.009

Affected products

Saltstack Salt — versions 3001
Debian Linux — versions 9.0, 10.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-287 — Improper Authentication

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/index.html (Release Notes, Vendor Advisory)
www.saltstack.com/blog/on-november-3-2020-saltstack-publicly-disclosed-three-ne… (Vendor Advisory)
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/… (vendor-advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-11/msg00029.html (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
security.gentoo.org/glsa/202011-13 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/160039/SaltStack-Salt-REST-API-Arbitrary-Command-… (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00007.html (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4837 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-25592?: CVE-2020-25592 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Saltstack Salt, classified under Improper Authentication. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2020-11-06.
How severe is CVE-2020-25592?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2020-25592 known to be exploited?: 7 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.