CVE-2020-16846 (GCVE-0-2020-16846)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2020-11-06 07:27 – Updated: 2025-10-21 23:35Summary
An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt through 3002. Sending crafted web requests to the Salt API, with the SSH client enabled, can result in shell injection.
Severity
9.8 (Critical)
SSVC
Exploitation: active
Automatable: yes
Technical Impact: total
CISA Coordinator · CISA-ADP (v2.0.3)
Decision recorded 2025-02-07 13:49 UTC
CWE
- n/a
- CWE-78 - Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')
Assigner
References
15 references
CISA
Known Exploited Vulnerability - GCVE BCP-07 Compliant
KEV entry ID: 0bfc0657-22e8-40de-ac45-0bd52b2b3440
Exploited: Yes
Timestamps
First Seen: 2021-11-03
Asserted: 2021-11-03
Scope
Notes: SaltStack Salt Shell Injection Vulnerability | Affected: SaltStack / Salt | Description: SaltStack Salt allows an unauthenticated user with network access to the Salt API to use shell injections to run code on the Salt API using the SSH client. This vulnerability affects any users running the Salt API. | Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions. | Due date: 2022-05-03 | Known ransomware campaign use (KEV): Unknown | Notes (KEV): https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-16846
Evidence
Type: Vendor Report
Signal: Successful Exploitation
Confidence: 80%
Source: cisa-kev
Details
| Cwes | CWE-78 |
|---|---|
| Feed | CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog |
| Product | Salt |
| Due Date | 2022-05-03 |
| Date Added | 2021-11-03 |
| Vendorproject | SaltStack |
| Vulnerabilityname | SaltStack Salt Shell Injection Vulnerability |
| Knownransomwarecampaignuse | Unknown |
References
Created: 2026-10-02 08:10 CEST
| Updated: 2026-10-02 08:10 CEST
Previdian
Known Exploited Vulnerability - GCVE BCP-07 Compliant
KEV entry ID: 58ae80d5-3446-4818-9d14-b09682acf252
Exploited: Yes
Timestamps
First Seen: 2021-11-03
Asserted: 2021-11-03
Scope
Notes: An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt through 3002. Sending crafted web requests to the Salt API, with the SSH client enabled, can result in... | Affected: SaltStack / Salt | CVSS: 9.8 (CRITICAL) | EPSS: 0.99585 | Used in malware: unknown | Not yet in CISA KEV: False
Evidence
Type: Public Report
Signal: Successful Exploitation
Confidence: 70%
Source: previdian
Details
| Feed | Previdian (previdian.com) |
|---|---|
| Title | An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt through 3002. Sending crafted web requests to the Salt API, with the SSH client enabled, can result in... |
| Cve Id | CVE-2020-16846 |
| Vendor | SaltStack |
| Ghsa Id | GHSA-QR38-H96J-2J3W |
| Product | Salt |
| Added Date | 2021-11-03T00:00:00.000Z |
| Cvss Score | 9.8 |
| Epss Score | 0.99585 |
| Previous Ids | |
| Cvss Severity | CRITICAL |
| Virtual Patch | False |
| Cvss Estimated | False |
| Epss Percentile | 0.99946 |
| Used In Malware | unknown |
| Vulnerability Id | CVE-2020-16846 |
| Ahead Of Cisa Kev | None |
| Not Yet In Cisa Kev | False |
References
Created: 2026-10-02 09:10 CEST
| Updated: 2026-10-02 09:10 CEST
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"url": "https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202011-13"
},
{
"name": "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/160039/SaltStack-Salt-REST-API-Arbitrary-Command-Execution.html",
"refsource": "MISC",
"url": "http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/160039/SaltStack-Salt-REST-API-Arbitrary-Command-Execution.html"
},
{
"name": "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1381/",
"refsource": "MISC",
"url": "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1381/"
},
{
"name": "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1383/",
"refsource": "MISC",
"url": "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1383/"
},
{
"name": "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1380/",
"refsource": "MISC",
"url": "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1380/"
},
{
"name": "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1379/",
"refsource": "MISC",
"url": "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1379/"
},
{
"name": "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1382/",
"refsource": "MISC",
"url": "https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1382/"
},
{
"name": "[debian-lts-announce] 20201204 [SECURITY] [DLA 2480-1] salt security update",
"refsource": "MLIST",
"url": "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00007.html"
},
{
"name": "DSA-4837",
"refsource": "DEBIAN",
"url": "https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4837"
},
{
"name": "[debian-lts-announce] 20220103 [SECURITY] [DLA 2480-2] salt regression update",
"refsource": "MLIST",
"url": "https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/01/msg00000.html"
}
]
}
}
}
},
"cveMetadata": {
"assignerOrgId": "8254265b-2729-46b6-b9e3-3dfca2d5bfca",
"assignerShortName": "mitre",
"cveId": "CVE-2020-16846",
"datePublished": "2020-11-06T07:27:24.000Z",
"dateReserved": "2020-08-04T00:00:00.000Z",
"dateUpdated": "2025-10-21T23:35:33.124Z",
"state": "PUBLISHED"
},
"dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
"dataVersion": "5.1"
}
}
}
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Experimental. This forecast is provided for visualization only and may change without notice. Do not use it for operational decisions.
Forecast uses a logistic model when the trend is rising, or an exponential decay model when the trend is falling. Fitted via linearized least squares.
Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date | Other |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
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The MITRE ATT&CK techniques below are AI-generated suggestions, inferred from the description of the
vulnerability by the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-classification-roberta-base
model, served locally by ML-Gateway.
They have not been verified by an analyst and are provided for guidance only.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
The approach is described in our paper Mapping CVEs to MITRE ATT&CK Techniques: A Curated Gold-Set Classifier and the Limits of LLM-Assisted Label Expansion.
Browse all ATT&CK techniques and the vulnerabilities related to each.
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Related by attack behaviour
Vulnerabilities whose description is nearest to this one in the vector space of the CIRCL/vulnerability-attack-technique-biencoder model. This is a similarity search over the bi-encoder space (plain cosine), not a classification, and it has no measured accuracy.
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