CVE-2017-8109: Salt SaltStack Salt Information Exposure Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-xcx4-5wq7-g5g7
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CVSS 7.8
CWE-200
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2017-8109 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.8) saltstack salt information exposure vulnerability (CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor) affecting Salt libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves saltstack salt information exposure. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2016.11.4.

CVE-2017-8109 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2017-8109
GHSA Identifier GHSA-xcx4-5wq7-g5g7
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.8
CWE Classification CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Affected Product Salt
Package Ecosystem PyPI
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.8

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

Attack Vector Local (AV:L)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
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-2017-8109

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: 2016.11.4 
pip install salt>=2016.11.4
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-2017-8109, 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 2016.11.4), 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-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor, where the product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information. 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 salt-ssh minion code in SaltStack Salt 2016.11 before 2016.11.4 copied over configuration from the Salt Master without adjusting permissions, which might leak credentials to local attackers on configured minions (clients).

CVE-2017-8109 Affected Salt Versions

1 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2016.11.4
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
salt
pypi/salt
PyPI
≥ 2016.11
< 2016.11.4
2016.11.4

References

NVD — CVE-2017-8109 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-8109
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/saltstack/salt/issues/40075
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/saltstack/salt/pull/40609
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/saltstack/salt/pull/40609/commits/6e34c2b5e5e849302af7ccd00509929c3809c658
bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi WEB
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1035912
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2017-82.yaml
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/saltstack/salt

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2017-8109?
CVE-2017-8109 is a security vulnerability in Salt involving SaltStack Salt Information Exposure under CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor.
Which Salt versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2016.11.4 across affected packages: salt.
What version fixes CVE-2017-8109?
Upgrading to 2016.11.4 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is salt affected?
Yes, salt is affected in releases prior to 2016.11.4. Upgrade your dependency to 2016.11.4 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2017-8109?
CVE-2017-8109 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.8 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2017-8109?
CVE-2017-8109 is classified under CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor (The product exposes sensitive information to an actor that is not explicitly authorized to have access to that information.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2017-8109?
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-xcx4-5wq7-g5g7",
  "modified" : "2024-10-26T22:34:39Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-17T02:46:54Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2017-8109" ],
  "summary" : "SaltStack Salt Information Exposure",
  "details" : "The salt-ssh minion code in SaltStack Salt 2016.11 before 2016.11.4 copied over configuration from the Salt Master without adjusting permissions, which might leak credentials to local attackers on configured minions (clients).",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "salt"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "2016.11"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2016.11.4"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-8109"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/saltstack/salt/issues/40075"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/saltstack/salt/pull/40609"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/saltstack/salt/pull/40609/commits/6e34c2b5e5e849302af7ccd00509929c3809c658"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1035912"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2017-82.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/saltstack/salt"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-200" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2024-04-22T22:19:53Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2017-04-25T17:59:00Z"
  }
}