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CVE-2020-16846

CRITICAL
9.8
CVSS Score
Published: November 6, 2020 at 07:27 AM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 02:58 AM UTC
4 products affected across 4 vendorsDebian LinuxFedoraLeap

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Severity
CRITICAL9.8
Exploitation
CISA KEV
Exploit prediction
EPSS 100%
SSVC
Active

Actively Exploited

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) Catalog

EPSS Score99.6%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) estimates a 99.6% chance this CVE is exploited in the wild within the next 30 days — higher than 100% of all CVEs. It complements CVSS: a high EPSS on a mid-severity CVE can still be urgent.

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.

Required Action
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Ransomware Use
Unknown
Added to KEV
Nov 3, 2021
Remediation Due
May 3, 2022
1637 days overdue
Notes
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-16846

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.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

Debian Linux· Debiandrupal
95%
10.09.0
Fedora· Fedora Projectrpm
95%
31
Leap· openSUSEdrupal
95%
15.1
Salt· Saltstack
95%
v < 2015.8.102015.8.11 ≤ v < 2015.8.132016.11.0 ≤ v < 2016.11.32016.11.4 ≤ v < 2016.11.62016.11.7 ≤ v < 2016.11.102016.3.0 ≤ v < 2016.3.42016.3.5 ≤ v < 2016.3.62016.3.7 ≤ v < 2016.3.82017.5.0 ≤ v < 2017.7.42017.7.5 ≤ v < 2017.7.82018.2.0 ≤ v < 2018.3.52019.2.0 ≤ v < 2019.2.53000.0 ≤ v < 3000.330013002
Affected range stops below 2015.8.10, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2015.8.13, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2016.11.10, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2016.11.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2016.11.6, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2016.3.4, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2016.3.6, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2016.3.8, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2017.7.4, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2017.7.8, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2018.3.5, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 2019.2.5, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 3000.3, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement

References (15)

Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_SUSEMailing ListThird Party Advisory
Source: [email protected]
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-11/msg00029.html
x_refsource_MISCExploitThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
Source: [email protected]
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/160039/SaltStack-Salt-REST-API-Arbitrary-Command-Execution.html
x_refsource_MISCRelease Notes
Source: [email protected]
https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases
Mailing Listx_refsource_MLISTThird Party Advisory
Source: [email protected]
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00007.html
Mailing Listx_refsource_MLISTThird Party Advisory
Source: [email protected]
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/01/msg00000.html
Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_FEDORARelease Notes
Source: [email protected]
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TPOGB2F6XUAIGFDTOCQDNB2VIXFXHWMA/
Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOThird Party Advisory
Source: [email protected]
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202011-13
Vendor Advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANMailing ListThird Party Advisory
Source: [email protected]
https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4837

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCActiveAutomatableTotal impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

9.8CRITICALCISA-ADP
Attack Vector
NETWORK
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-78

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