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CVE-2016-3176· NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

Salt before 2015.5.10 and 2015.8.x before 2015.8.8, when PAM external authentication is enabled, allows attackers to bypass the configured a

Salt before 2015.5.10 and 2015.8.x before 2015.8.8, when PAM external authentication is enabled, allows attackers to bypass the configured authentication service by passing an alternate service with a command sent to LocalClient.

MediumCVSS 5.6 · v3.0—No exploit Fix available
Published
Jan 31, 2017
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
0.9% · 57th percentile
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Report tools

JSON

Action score

22

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
22 / 40 · 5.6 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.9%

Affected systems

VendorProduct
saltstacksalt

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • saltstack saltup to 2015.5.9 inclusive
  • saltstack salt2015.8.0
  • saltstack salt2015.8.1
  • saltstack salt2015.8.2
  • saltstack salt2015.8.3
  • saltstack salt2015.8.4
  • saltstack salt2015.8.5
  • saltstack salt2015.8.7

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
PyPIsaltfrom 2015.8 · before 2015.8.82015.8.8
PyPIsaltbefore 2015.5.102015.5.10
SUSE:Enterprise Storage 1.0saltbefore 2014.1.10-5.62014.1.10-5.6
SUSE:Enterprise Storage 2saltbefore 2014.1.10-3.12014.1.10-3.1
SUSE:Enterprise Storage 2.1saltbefore 2014.1.10-5.12014.1.10-5.1

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2020-16846An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt through 3002.KEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2020-11651An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 2019.2.4 and 3000 before 3000.2.KEV
    98Now
  • CVE-2020-11652An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 2019.2.4 and 3000 before 3000.2.KEV
    82Now
  • CVE-2021-25282An issue was discovered in through SaltStack Salt before 3002.5.
    64This week
  • CVE-2021-3197An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 3002.5.
    61This week
  • CVE-2021-25281An issue was discovered in through SaltStack Salt before 3002.5.
    61This week

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
PyPI:salt2015.5.10Package registry (OSV)
PyPI:salt2015.8.8Package registry (OSV)
suse:salt2014.1.10-3.1 · SUSE:Enterprise Storage 2Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

EPSS, last 120 days

FIRST EPSS daily score; only changes of 0.01 or more are recorded (step chart).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.

If successful

Confidentiality
low · data can be read
Integrity
low · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
low · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
Low
Integrity impact
Low
Availability impact
Low

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L

nvd-primary

Root cause

Authentication is added route by route instead of being enforced in one place. When a route added later bypasses the shared middleware, the session check never runs for it.

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

ts
app.use("/admin", requireSession, adminRouter);
// Route added later skips the middlewareapp.post("/admin-api/config", updateConfig);

Fixed

ts
const admin = express.Router();admin.use(requireSession, requireRole("admin"));
admin.post("/config", updateConfig);app.use("/admin", admin);

Noroxi analysis

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Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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References

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

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