CVE-2020-11651: Salt Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CRITICAL
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-pjhf-vpx3-33r3
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CVSS 9.8
CWE-20 CWE-306
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2020-11651 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 9.8) remote code execution vulnerability (CWE-20: Improper Input Validation) affecting Salt libraries in the PyPI ecosystem. The issue involves saltstack salt unauthenticated remote code execution. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 2019.2.4, 3000.2.

CVE-2020-11651 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2020-11651
GHSA Identifier GHSA-pjhf-vpx3-33r3
Severity CRITICAL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 9.8
CWE Classification CWE-20: Improper Input Validation
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-2020-11651

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: 2019.2.4 
pip install salt>=2019.2.4
salt fixed: 3000.2 
pip install salt>=3000.2
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-2020-11651, 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 2019.2.4), 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-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

An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 2019.2.4 and 3000 before 3000.2. The salt-master process ClearFuncs class does not properly validate method calls. This allows a remote user to access some methods without authentication. These methods can be used to retrieve user tokens from the salt master and/or run arbitrary commands on salt minions.

CVE-2020-11651 Affected Salt Versions

2 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
2019.2.43000.2
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
salt
pypi/salt
PyPI
< 2019.2.4
2019.2.4
salt
pypi/salt
PyPI
≥ 3000
< 3000.2
3000.2

References

NVD — CVE-2020-11651 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-11651
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2020-102.yaml
Salt Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/saltstack/salt
Salt Release RELEASE
https://github.com/saltstack/salt/blob/v3000.2_docs/doc/topics/releases/3000.2.rst
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce... WEB
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/05/msg00027.html
Salt Security Information SECURITY
https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-salt-2vx545AG
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/2020-04/msg00047.html
Salt Security Information SECURITY
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-07/msg00070.html
Salt Security Information SECURITY
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157560/Saltstack-3000.1-Remote-Code-Execution.html
Salt Security Information SECURITY
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157678/SaltStack-Salt-Master-Minion-Unauthenticated-Remote-Code-Execution.html
Salt Security Information SECURITY
http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2020-0009.html

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2020-11651?
CVE-2020-11651 is a security vulnerability in Salt involving SaltStack Salt Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution under CWE-20: Improper Input Validation.
Which Salt versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 2019.2.4, 3000.2 across affected packages: salt.
What version fixes CVE-2020-11651?
Upgrading to 2019.2.4, 3000.2 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is salt affected?
Yes, salt is affected in releases prior to 2019.2.4, 3000.2. Upgrade your dependency to 2019.2.4, 3000.2 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-11651?
CVE-2020-11651 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-2020-11651?
CVE-2020-11651 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-2020-11651?
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-pjhf-vpx3-33r3",
  "modified" : "2024-10-26T22:48:35Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-24T17:16:59Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2020-11651" ],
  "summary" : "SaltStack Salt Unauthenticated Remote Code Execution",
  "details" : "An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 2019.2.4 and 3000 before 3000.2. The salt-master process ClearFuncs class does not properly validate method calls. This allows a remote user to access some methods without authentication. These methods can be used to retrieve user tokens from the salt master and/or run arbitrary commands on salt minions.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  }, {
    "type" : "CVSS_V4",
    "score" : "CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/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" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "2019.2.4"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "PyPI",
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    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "3000"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3000.2"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-11651"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/pypa/advisory-database/tree/main/vulns/salt/PYSEC-2020-102.yaml"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/saltstack/salt"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/saltstack/salt/blob/v3000.2_docs/doc/topics/releases/3000.2.rst"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/05/msg00027.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://tools.cisco.com/security/center/content/CiscoSecurityAdvisory/cisco-sa-salt-2vx545AG"
  }, {
    "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/2020-04/msg00047.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-07/msg00070.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157560/Saltstack-3000.1-Remote-Code-Execution.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/157678/SaltStack-Salt-Master-Minion-Unauthenticated-Remote-Code-Execution.html"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2020-0009.html"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-20", "CWE-306" ],
    "severity" : "CRITICAL",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2024-04-22T22:24:37Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2020-04-30T17:15:00Z"
  }
}