CVE-2013-4436: Salt SaltStack MITM SSH Attack Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-f22j-37jj-cxw9
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-20
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2013-4436 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) saltstack mitm ssh attack vulnerability (CWE-20: Improper Input Validation) affecting Salt libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves saltstack mitm ssh attack in salt-ssh. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 0.17.1.

CVE-2013-4436 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2013-4436
GHSA Identifier GHSA-f22j-37jj-cxw9
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-20: Improper Input Validation
Affected Product Salt
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality None (C:N)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2013-4436

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Salt dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

salt fixed: 0.17.1 
pip install salt>=0.17.1
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

pip show salt

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Python environment is affected by CVE-2013-4436, inspect your installed packages using pip:

pip show salt

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Salt in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 0.17.1), your application is affected.

Note: The pip show salt command checks currently installed packages in your active Python environment.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation, where the product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly. In Salt, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

The default configuration for salt-ssh in Salt (aka SaltStack) 0.17.0 does not validate the SSH host key of requests, which allows remote attackers to have unspecified impact via a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack.

CVE-2013-4436 Affected Salt Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
0.17.1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
salt
pypi/salt
PyPI
≥ 0.17.0
< 0.17.1
All 1 versions
0.17.0
0.17.1

References

NVD — CVE-2013-4436 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-4436
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2013-26.yaml
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/saltstack/salt
Salt Release RELEASE
http://docs.saltstack.com/topics/releases/0.17.1.html
Salt Security Information SECURITY
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/10/18/3

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2013-4436?
CVE-2013-4436 is a security vulnerability in Salt involving SaltStack MITM SSH attack in salt-ssh under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation.
Which Salt versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 0.17.1 across affected packages: salt.
What version fixes CVE-2013-4436?
Upgrading to 0.17.1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is salt affected?
Yes, salt is affected in releases prior to 0.17.1. Upgrade your dependency to 0.17.1 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2013-4436?
CVE-2013-4436 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2013-4436?
CVE-2013-4436 is classified under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation (The product receives input or data, but it does not validate or incorrectly validates that the input has the properties that are required to process the data safely and correctly.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2013-4436?
Run the dependency tree command: 'pip show salt'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-f22j-37jj-cxw9",
  "modified" : "2024-10-26T22:37:33Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-17T04:58:29Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2013-4436" ],
  "summary" : "SaltStack MITM SSH attack in salt-ssh",
  "details" : "The default configuration for salt-ssh in Salt (aka SaltStack) 0.17.0 does not validate the SSH host key of requests, which allows remote attackers to have unspecified impact via a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "salt"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0.17.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "0.17.1"
      } ]
    } ],
    "versions" : [ "0.17.0" ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-4436"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2013-26.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/saltstack/salt"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://docs.saltstack.com/topics/releases/0.17.1.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2013/10/18/3"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-20" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2024-05-01T11:18:38Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2013-11-05T18:55:00Z"
  }
}