CVE & CISA-KEV Catalog

CVE-2020-16846

CRITICALCISA KEVEPSS 100th pctl

9.8

CVSS v3

Description

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.

CWE-78OS Command Injection

How to fix

Remediation Available

saltUbuntu

Fixed in:0.17.5+ds-1ubuntu0.1~esm4USN-7181-1

Fixed in:2015.8.8+ds-1ubuntu0.1+esm2USN-6948-1

Fixed in:2017.7.4+dfsg1-1ubuntu18.04.2+esm1USN-6948-1

salt-commonUbuntu

Fixed in:0.17.5+ds-1ubuntu0.1~esm4USN-7181-1

Fixed in:2015.8.8+ds-1ubuntu0.1+esm2USN-6948-1

Fixed in:2017.7.4+dfsg1-1ubuntu18.04.2+esm1USN-6948-1

salt-masterUbuntu

Fixed in:0.17.5+ds-1ubuntu0.1~esm4USN-7181-1

salt-minionUbuntu

Fixed in:0.17.5+ds-1ubuntu0.1~esm4USN-7181-1

salt-sshUbuntu

Fixed in:0.17.5+ds-1ubuntu0.1~esm4USN-7181-1

salt-syndicUbuntu

Fixed in:0.17.5+ds-1ubuntu0.1~esm4USN-7181-1

TridentStack Control can deploy fixes like this automatically across your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet. See how it works

Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.

CVSS v3 Vector

Exploitability

Attack VectorNetwork

Attack ComplexityLow

Privileges RequiredNone

User InteractionNone

ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityHigh

IntegrityHigh

AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Exploit Intelligence

99.59%probability of exploitation in 30 days

100thpercentile

Very high risk: more likely to be exploited than 100% of all known CVEs.

Known Exploited Vulnerability (CISA KEV)

SaltStack Salt Shell Injection Vulnerability

SaltStack Salt allows an unauthenticated user with network access to the Salt API to use shell injections to run code on the Salt API using the SSH client. This vulnerability affects any users running the Salt API.

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Remediation due: 2022-05-03

References

Exploit1

packetstormsecurity.com

Vendor Advisory1

saltstack.com

Third-Party Advisory10

Government Resource1

cisa.gov

Release Notes2

Related Vulnerabilities

Other CWE-78 (OS Command Injection) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all

CVE	Severity	CVSS	EPSS	Exploited	Fix
CVE-2021-1498	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	Fix
CVE-2014-6271	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	Fix
CVE-2019-16920	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	-
CVE-2022-44877	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	Fix
CVE-2020-8515	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	-
CVE-2020-9054	Critical	9.8	100%	KEV	Fix

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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2025-11-07.