CVE-2019-17361: Salt SaltStack Salt Is Vulnerable To Vulnerability

CRITICAL
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-q53j-p6r2-g2v4
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CVSS 9.8
CWE-77
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2019-17361 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 9.8) saltstack salt is vulnerable to vulnerability (CWE-77: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection')) affecting Salt libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves saltstack salt is vulnerable to command injection. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2019.2.3.

CVE-2019-17361 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2019-17361
GHSA Identifier GHSA-q53j-p6r2-g2v4
Severity CRITICAL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 9.8
CWE Classification CWE-77: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection')
Affected Product Salt
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 9.8

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:H/I:H/A:H).

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 High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2019-17361

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: 2019.2.3 
pip install salt>=2019.2.3
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-2019-17361, 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 2019.2.3), 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-77: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection'), where the product constructs all or part of a command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended command when it is sent to a downstream component. 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

In SaltStack Salt before 2019.2.3, the salt-api NET API with the ssh client enabled is vulnerable to command injection. This allows an unauthenticated attacker with network access to the API endpoint to execute arbitrary code on the salt-api host.

CVE-2019-17361 Affected Salt Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2019.2.3
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
salt
pypi/salt
PyPI
< 2019.2.3
2019.2.3

References

NVD — CVE-2019-17361 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-17361
Salt Release RELEASE
https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/2019.2.3.html#security-fix
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2020-177.yaml
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/saltstack/salt
usn.ubuntu.com/4459-1 WEB
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4459-1
Salt Security Information SECURITY
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4676
Salt Security Information SECURITY
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-03/msg00026.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2019-17361?
CVE-2019-17361 is a security vulnerability in Salt involving SaltStack Salt is vulnerable to command injection under CWE-77: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection').
Which Salt versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2019.2.3 across affected packages: salt.
What version fixes CVE-2019-17361?
Upgrading to 2019.2.3 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is salt affected?
Yes, salt is affected in releases prior to 2019.2.3. Upgrade your dependency to 2019.2.3 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-17361?
CVE-2019-17361 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2019-17361?
CVE-2019-17361 is classified under CWE-77: Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in a Command ('Command Injection') (The product constructs all or part of a command using externally-influenced input from an upstream component, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could modify the intended command when it is sent to a downstream component.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2019-17361?
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-q53j-p6r2-g2v4",
  "modified" : "2024-10-22T14:42:19Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-24T17:06:52Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2019-17361" ],
  "summary" : "SaltStack Salt is vulnerable to command injection",
  "details" : "In SaltStack Salt before 2019.2.3, the salt-api NET API with the ssh client enabled is vulnerable to command injection. This allows an unauthenticated attacker with network access to the API endpoint to execute arbitrary code on the salt-api host.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "salt"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2019.2.3"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-17361"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/2019.2.3.html#security-fix"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2020-177.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/saltstack/salt"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://usn.ubuntu.com/4459-1"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4676"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-03/msg00026.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-77" ],
    "severity" : "CRITICAL",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2024-04-22T22:25:25Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2020-01-17T02:15:00Z"
  }
}