CVE-2016-1866: Salt Salt Improper Access Control Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-vqh4-crjf-jjxx
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CVSS 8.1
CWE-284
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2016-1866 is a HIGH (CVSS 8.1) salt improper access control vulnerability (CWE-284: Improper Access Control) affecting Salt libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves salt improper access control. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2015.8.4.

CVE-2016-1866 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2016-1866
GHSA Identifier GHSA-vqh4-crjf-jjxx
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 8.1
CWE Classification CWE-284: Improper Access Control
Affected Product Salt
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 8.1

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity High (AC:H)
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-2016-1866

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: 2015.8.4 
pip install salt>=2015.8.4
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-2016-1866, 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 2015.8.4), 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-284: Improper Access Control, where the product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor. 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

Salt 2015.8.x before 2015.8.4 does not properly handle clear messages on the minion, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to execute arbitrary code by inserting packets into the minion-master data stream.

CVE-2016-1866 Affected Salt Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2015.8.4
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
salt
pypi/salt
PyPI
≥ 2015.8.0rc1
< 2015.8.4
2015.8.4

References

NVD — CVE-2016-1866 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-1866
Salt Release RELEASE
https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/2015.8.4.html
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2016-23.yaml
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/saltstack/salt
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/20... WEB
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2016-03/msg00034.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2016-1866?
CVE-2016-1866 is a security vulnerability in Salt involving Salt Improper Access Control under CWE-284: Improper Access Control.
Which Salt versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2015.8.4 across affected packages: salt.
What version fixes CVE-2016-1866?
Upgrading to 2015.8.4 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is salt affected?
Yes, salt is affected in releases prior to 2015.8.4. Upgrade your dependency to 2015.8.4 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-1866?
CVE-2016-1866 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.1 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2016-1866?
CVE-2016-1866 is classified under CWE-284: Improper Access Control (The product does not restrict or incorrectly restricts access to a resource from an unauthorized actor.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2016-1866?
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-vqh4-crjf-jjxx",
  "modified" : "2024-10-21T21:28:49Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-14T02:11:54Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2016-1866" ],
  "summary" : "Salt Improper Access Control",
  "details" : "Salt 2015.8.x before 2015.8.4 does not properly handle clear messages on the minion, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to execute arbitrary code by inserting packets into the minion-master data stream.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "salt"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "2015.8.0rc1"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2015.8.4"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-1866"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/2015.8.4.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2016-23.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/saltstack/salt"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2016-03/msg00034.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-284" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-07-28T23:19:01Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2016-04-12T14:59:00Z"
  }
}