CVE-2017-14696: Salt Denial of Service Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-657p-cj5r-mjrh
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-400 CWE-20
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2017-14696 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) denial of service vulnerability (CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption) affecting Salt libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves saltstack salt denial of service via a crafted authentication request. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2016.3.8, 2016.11.8, 2017.7.2.

CVE-2017-14696 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2017-14696
GHSA Identifier GHSA-657p-cj5r-mjrh
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
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:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 None (C:N)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2017-14696

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: 2016.3.8 
pip install salt>=2016.3.8
salt fixed: 2016.11.8 
pip install salt>=2016.11.8
salt fixed: 2017.7.2 
pip install salt>=2017.7.2
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-2017-14696, 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 2016.3.8), 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-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption, where the product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource. 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

SaltStack Salt before 2016.3.8, 2016.11.x before 2016.11.8, and 2017.7.x before 2017.7.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a crafted authentication request.

CVE-2017-14696 Affected Salt Versions

3 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2016.3.82016.11.82017.7.2
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
salt
pypi/salt
PyPI
< 2016.3.8
2016.3.8
salt
pypi/salt
PyPI
≥ 2016.11.0
< 2016.11.8
2016.11.8
salt
pypi/salt
PyPI
≥ 2017.7.0
< 2017.7.2
2017.7.2

References

NVD — CVE-2017-14696 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-14696
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/saltstack/salt/commit/5f8b5e1a0f23fe0f2be5b3c3e04199b57a53db5b
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi WEB
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1500742
Salt Release RELEASE
https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/2016.11.8.html
Salt Release RELEASE
https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/2016.3.8.html
Salt Release RELEASE
https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/2017.7.2.html
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2017-37.yaml
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/saltstack/salt
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/20... WEB
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2017-10/msg00073.html
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/20... WEB
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2017-10/msg00075.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2017-14696?
CVE-2017-14696 is a security vulnerability in Salt involving SaltStack Salt Denial of Service via a crafted authentication request under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption.
Which Salt versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2016.3.8, 2016.11.8, 2017.7.2 across affected packages: salt.
What version fixes CVE-2017-14696?
Upgrading to 2016.3.8, 2016.11.8, 2017.7.2 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is salt affected?
Yes, salt is affected in releases prior to 2016.3.8, 2016.11.8, 2017.7.2. Upgrade your dependency to 2016.3.8, 2016.11.8, 2017.7.2 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2017-14696?
CVE-2017-14696 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2017-14696?
CVE-2017-14696 is classified under CWE-400: Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.).
How can I check PyPI dependencies for CVE-2017-14696?
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-657p-cj5r-mjrh",
  "modified" : "2024-10-22T14:55:38Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-17T00:23:46Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2017-14696" ],
  "summary" : "SaltStack Salt Denial of Service via a crafted authentication request",
  "details" : "SaltStack Salt before 2016.3.8, 2016.11.x before 2016.11.8, and 2017.7.x before 2017.7.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service via a crafted authentication request.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "salt"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2016.3.8"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "salt"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "2016.11.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2016.11.8"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
      "name" : "salt"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "2017.7.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2017.7.2"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-14696"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/saltstack/salt/commit/5f8b5e1a0f23fe0f2be5b3c3e04199b57a53db5b"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1500742"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/2016.11.8.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/2016.3.8.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/2017.7.2.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2017-37.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/saltstack/salt"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2017-10/msg00073.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2017-10/msg00075.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-20", "CWE-400" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2024-04-22T22:20:29Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2017-10-24T17:29:00Z"
  }
}