CVE-2020-16846An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt through 3002. Sending crafted web requests to the Salt API, with the SSH client enabled, can…
- 9.8CriticalCVSS base score
- 99.6%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 0.1% of all CVEs
- YesKnown exploitedin CISA's KEV since 3 Nov 2021
- 2Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
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.
Exploited in the wild
CISA lists this vulnerability in its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog as SaltStack Salt Shell Injection Vulnerability.
- Added
- 3 Nov 2021
- Fix due (US federal)
- 3 May 2022
- Used by ransomware
- Not known
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
ENISA's EU Vulnerability Database lists it as exploited, from CISA's KEV, since 3 Nov 2021.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module and a Nuclei template for it. CISA's SSVC rates its exploitation: it is being exploited.
Show the exploits2
Metasploit modules1 module
- SaltStack Salt REST API Arbitrary Command Execution (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/linux/http/saltstack_salt_api_cmd_execRank excellentdisclosed 3 Nov 2020
Nuclei templates1 template
- SaltStack <=3002 - Shell Injection (Nuclei template) (opens in a new tab)
http/cves/2020/CVE-2020-16846.yamlSeverity critical
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
- 3 months later
· 3 months later
Published
- 12 months later
· 12 months later
Added to CISA KEV
Known exploited in the wild
- 4 years later
· 4 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| CISA-ADPADP (enrichment) | 3.1 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Analyzed | 3.1 | Critical9.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 99.6% · top 0.1% of all CVEs (13 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Critical 9.8.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
Affected packages
From reviewed advisories of the GitHub Advisory Database.
References
References15
- https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.saltstack.com/blog/on-november-3-2020-saltstack-publicly-disclosed-three-new-cves/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- FEDORA-2020-9e040bd6dd (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORAx_transferred
- openSUSE-SU-2020:1868 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- GLSA-202011-13 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOx_transferred
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/160039/SaltStack-Salt-REST-API-Arbitrary-Command-Execution.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1381/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1383/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1380/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1379/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1382/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20201204 [SECURITY] [DLA 2480-1] salt security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- DSA-4837 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- [debian-lts-announce] 20220103 [SECURITY] [DLA 2480-2] salt regression update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2020-16846 (opens in a new tab)government-resource
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- CISA KEV catalog (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2020-0173 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisory GHSA-qr38-h96j-2j3w (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2020-16846)Record last updated .