CVE-2020-11651

SaltStack Salt: Authentication Bypass

As of , CVE-2020-11651 in SaltStack Salt is on CISA's list of exploited vulnerabilities: CISA listed it on . Our patch-first group: Patch this week.

Exploited
Yes: CISA listed it on 3 November 2021
US federal deadline
3 May 2022181 days after CISA listed it. US federal civilian agencies must fix it by then.
Used in ransomware campaigns
Not known to CISA
EPSS score
0.97Higher than 99% of the CVEs EPSS scores. EPSS estimates the chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days.
EPSS when listed
Not availableCISA listed it before 4 February 2022, where the EPSS files we read begin.
Public exploit
2 Metasploit modules and 1 Exploit-DB entry
Fix
No vendor link in CISA's entry

What CISA says to do

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

CISA's required action

What the flaw is

SaltStack Salt contains an authentication bypass vulnerability in the salt-master process ClearFuncs due to improperly validating method calls. The vulnerability allows a remote user to access some methods without authentication, which can be used to retrieve user tokens from the salt master and/or run commands on salt minions. Salt users who follow fundamental internet security guidelines and best practices are not affected by this vulnerability.

CISA's description

An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 2019.2.4 and 3000 before 3000.2. The salt-master process ClearFuncs class does not properly validate method calls. This allows a remote user to access some methods without authentication. These methods can be used to retrieve user tokens from the salt master and/or run arbitrary commands on salt minions.

The CVE record's description, from mitre

CVE published
30 April 2020
Assigned by
mitre
CVSS
9.8 Critical (CVSS 3.1, from CISA-ADP)
CISA SSVC, exploitation
active
CISA SSVC, automatable
yes
CISA SSVC, technical impact
total

Timeline

  1. The CVE record was published.
  2. Exploit-DB published an exploit (EDB-ID 48421).
  3. CISA added it to its list of exploited vulnerabilities.
  4. The US federal deadline to fix it.

Public exploits

Facts from Metasploit's module list and Exploit-DB's index; we never copy exploit code.

  • Metasploit: SaltStack Salt Master/Minion Unauthenticated RCEexploit module, rank great
  • Metasploit: SaltStack Salt Master Server Root Key Disclosureauxiliary module, rank normal
  • Exploit-DB: Saltstack 3000.1 - Remote Code ExecutionEDB-ID 48421, 5 May 2020

Salt: other exploited entries

VulnerabilityProductOur groupListedDeadlineEPSS
CVE-2020-11652Path TraversalSaltStack SaltPatch this weekMetasploit module; EPSS 0.860.86
CVE-2020-16846Shell InjectionSaltStack SaltPatch this weekMetasploit module; EPSS 0.990.99

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