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CVE-2020-16846 — SaltStack Salt Command Injection in salt — CVE...

CRITICAL
Actively Exploited

SaltStack Salt Command Injection in netapi ssh client

Published May 24, 2022Updated October 22, 2025Source: osv

What Should I Do?

Patch Immediately

This vulnerability is confirmed under active exploitation (CISA KEV). Patch within 24-48 hours if possible.

Summary

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.

Advisory Timeline

  • First published May 24, 2022 (1602 days ago).
  • Last revised October 22, 2025 — 1247 days after initial publication.
  • Added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog 203 days before publication.

Remediation

Upgrade to the fixed version using your package manager.

pip
Update salt to 2018.3.5 or later
pip install "salt>=2018.3.5"
pip
Update salt to 3002.1 or later
pip install "salt>=3002.1"
pip
Update salt to 2016.3.8 or later
pip install "salt>=2016.3.8"
pip
Update salt to 2015.8.13 or later
pip install "salt>=2015.8.13"
pip
Update salt to 3000.4 or later
pip install "salt>=3000.4"
pip
Update salt to 2019.2.6 or later
pip install "salt>=2019.2.6"
pip
Update salt to 2017.7.8 or later
pip install "salt>=2017.7.8"
pip
Update salt to 3001.2 or later
pip install "salt>=3001.2"
pip
Update salt to 2016.11.10 or later
pip install "salt>=2016.11.10"

After upgrading, run your dependency scanner again to confirm the vulnerability is resolved.

Affected Packages (9)

Affects 1 ecosystem: pypi (1).

PackageEcosystemAffectedFixed In
salt
pypi
2018.3.0, 2018.3.0rc1, 2018.3.1, 2018.3.2 (+2 more)2018.3.5
salt
pypi
30023002.1
salt
pypi
2016.3.0, 2016.3.1, 2016.3.2, 2016.3.3 (+4 more)2016.3.8
salt
pypi
0.10.0, 0.10.1, 0.10.2, 0.10.3 (+106 more)2015.8.13
salt
pypi
3000, 3000.1, 3000.2, 3000.33000.4
salt
pypi
2019.2.0, 2019.2.1, 2019.2.2, 2019.2.3 (+2 more)2019.2.6
salt
pypi
2017.7.0, 2017.7.0rc1, 2017.7.1, 2017.7.2 (+5 more)2017.7.8
salt
pypi
3001, 3001.13001.2
salt
pypi
2016.11.0, 2016.11.1, 2016.11.2, 2016.11.3 (+6 more)2016.11.10

Vulnerability Classification

Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) identifiers for this vulnerability type.

  • CWE-78
    OS Command InjectionMITRE

CVSS Score Breakdown

What the CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) 9.8 score means for each attack dimension.

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2020-16846?
SaltStack Salt Command Injection in netapi ssh client This vulnerability has been assigned a severity rating of CRITICAL (CVSS score: 9.8/10).
How do I check if my project is affected by CVE-2020-16846?
CVE-2020-16846 affects salt. This vulnerability is listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, meaning it is being actively exploited in the wild. Use GeekWala's free vulnerability scanner to check your dependencies against CVE-2020-16846 and 200,000+ other known vulnerabilities.

Severity & Exploitability

CVSS Score
9.8

Exploitation is straightforward and causes maximum impact. Patch immediately.

Known Exploited Vulnerability

This vulnerability is in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, indicating active exploitation in the wild.

Added to KEV catalog: November 3, 2021

Remediation deadline: May 3, 2022

Also Known As

GHSA-qr38-h96j-2j3w
PYSEC-2020-104

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