CVE-2021-3197: An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 3002.5.
Noroxi assessment
Priority: This week (action score 61/100)
- The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
- Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 71.6% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 99.4% of all records.
- Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
- Fixed version: salt (Alpine:v3.13) 3002.5-r0; salt (Debian:9) 2016.11.2+ds-1+deb9u7; salt (openSUSE:Leap 15.2) 3000-lp152.3.27.1.
- Mentioned 2 times in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).
Don’t wait for the next maintenance window. Upgrade to salt (Alpine:v3.13) 3002.5-r0; salt (Debian:9) 2016.11.2+ds-1+deb9u7; salt (openSUSE:Leap 15.2) 3000-lp152.3.27.1 or later.
Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it
Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS
An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 3002.5. The salt-api's ssh client is vulnerable to a shell injection by including ProxyCommand in an argument, or via ssh_options provided in an API request.
- Published
- Feb 27, 2021
- Updated
- Jun 17, 2026
- EPSS
- 71.6% · 99th percentile
- CWE
- CWE-74
Report tools
Action score
61
This week
Don’t wait for the next maintenance window.
- CVSS
- 39 / 40 · 9.8 / 10
- CISA KEV
- 0 / 30 · Not listed
- EPSS
- 22 / 30 · 71.6%
Get told when this record changes
- Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
- No public exploit code on record
- A fix has been released
If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.
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Noroxi analysis
What does it mean in your environment?
The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.
We use this product, ask for helpAffected systems
Is your version affected?
Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.
| Vendor | Product | CPE |
|---|---|---|
| saltstack | salt | cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt |
| fedoraproject | fedora | cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora |
| debian | debian linux | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux |
Affected versions
NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.
- debian debian linux10.0
- debian debian linux11.0
- debian debian linux9.0
- fedoraproject fedora32
- fedoraproject fedora33
- fedoraproject fedora34
- saltstack salt2016.11.4 and later · before 2016.11.5
- saltstack salt2016.11.7 and later · before 2016.11.10
- saltstack salt2017.5.0 and later · before 2017.7.8
- saltstack salt2018.2.0 and later · up to 2018.3.5 inclusive
- saltstack saltbefore 2015.8.10
- saltstack salt2019.2.6 and later · before 2019.2.8
- saltstack salt3000 and later · before 3000.6
- saltstack salt3001 and later · before 3001.4
- saltstack salt3002 and later · before 3002.5
- saltstack salt2019.2.0 and later · before 2019.2.5
- saltstack salt2015.8.11 and later · before 2015.8.13
- saltstack salt2016.3.0 and later · before 2016.3.4
- saltstack salt2016.3.5 and later · before 2016.3.6
- saltstack salt2016.3.7 and later · before 2016.3.8
Package-level exposure
OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine:v3.13 | salt | from 2015.8.11 · before 3002.5-r0 | 3002.5-r0 |
| Debian:9 | salt | before 2016.11.2+ds-1+deb9u7 | 2016.11.2+ds-1+deb9u7 |
| openSUSE:Leap 15.2 | salt | before 3000-lp152.3.27.1 | 3000-lp152.3.27.1 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2015.8.11 · before 2015.8.13 | 2015.8.13 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2016.11.0 · before 2016.11.3 | 2016.11.3 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2016.11.4 · before 2016.11.5 | 2016.11.5 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2016.11.7 · before 2016.11.10 | 2016.11.10 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2016.3.0 · before 2016.11.5 | 2016.11.5 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2016.3.0 · before 2016.3.4 | 2016.3.4 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2016.3.5 · before 2016.3.6 | 2016.3.6 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2016.3.7 · before 2016.3.8 | 2016.3.8 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2017.5.0 · before 2017.7.8 | 2017.7.8 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2017.7.0 · before 2017.7.8 | 2017.7.8 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2018.2.0 · up to and including 2018.3.5 | — |
| PyPI | salt | from 2018.3.0rc1 · before 2019.2.0rc1 | 2019.2.0rc1 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2019.2.0 · before 2019.2.5 | 2019.2.5 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2019.2.0 · before 2019.2.8 | 2019.2.8 |
| PyPI | salt | from 2019.2.6 · before 2019.2.8 | 2019.2.8 |
| PyPI | salt | from 3000 · before 3000.7 | 3000.7 |
| PyPI | salt | from 3000 · before 3000.6 | 3000.6 |
| PyPI | salt | from 3001 · before 3001.5 | 3001.5 |
| PyPI | salt | from 3001 · before 3001.4 | 3001.4 |
| PyPI | salt | from 3002 · before 3002.5 | 3002.5 |
| PyPI | salt | from 3002 · before 3002.3 | 3002.3 |
+12
Same product
saltstack: all recordsOther highest-scoring records for the same primary product.
- CVE-2020-16846An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt through 3002.KEV99Now
- CVE-2020-11651An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 2019.2.4 and 3000 before 3000.2.KEV98Now
- CVE-2020-11652An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 2019.2.4 and 3000 before 3000.2.KEV82Now
Published before and after this one in the same product
- ← EarlierCVE-2021-3144Feb 27, 2021 · In SaltStack Salt before 3002.5, eauth tokens can be used once after expiration.38Monitor
- ← EarlierCVE-2021-3148Feb 27, 2021 · An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 3002.5.41Plan
- Later →CVE-2021-31607Apr 23, 2021 · In SaltStack Salt 2016.9 through 3002.6, a command injection vulnerability exists in the snapper module that allows for local privilege esca33Monitor
Remediation
Which version to upgrade to
Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.
| Product / package | Fixed version | Source |
|---|---|---|
| alpine:salt | 3002.5-r0 · Alpine:v3.13 | Package registry (OSV) |
| debian:salt | 2016.11.2+ds-1+deb9u7 · Debian:9 | Package registry (OSV) |
| opensuse:salt | 3000-lp152.3.27.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.2 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2015.8.10 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2015.8.13 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2016.11.10 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2016.11.3 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2016.11.5 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2016.3.4 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2016.3.6 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2016.3.8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2017.7.8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2019.2.0rc1 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2019.2.5 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 2019.2.8 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 3000.6 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 3000.7 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 3001.4 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 3001.5 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 3002.3 | Package registry (OSV) |
| PyPI:salt | 3002.5 | Package registry (OSV) |
| suse:py26-compat-salt | 2016.11.10-6.8.1 · SUSE:Manager Server Module 4.1 | Package registry (OSV) |
| suse:release-notes-susemanager | 4.0.12.1-3.68.1 · SUSE:Manager Server 4.0 | Package registry (OSV) |
| suse:release-notes-susemanager-proxy | 4.0.12.1-0.16.52.1 · SUSE:Manager Proxy 4.0 | Package registry (OSV) |
| suse:salt | 3000-46.129.1 · SUSE:Manager Client Tools 12 | Package 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.
No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).
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.
Credits
All researchersFinders, 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).
National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)
Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.
- TR-21-0255 · Mar 22, 2021(SUSE Linux Enterprise Server Güncellemesi)
- TR-21-0182 · Mar 1, 2021(SaltStack Güvenlik Zafiyeti)
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.
- No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
If successful
- Confidentiality
- high · data can be read
- Integrity
- high · data or configuration can be modified
- Availability
- high · the service can be disrupted
- Attack vector
- Network
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality impact
- High
- Integrity impact
- High
- Availability impact
- High
Weakness class (CWE)
CWE-74 · Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection')CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvd-primary
Attack context
MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.
Attack patterns (CAPEC)
- Buffer Overflow via Environment VariablesCAPEC-10likelihood: High · High
- Server Side Include (SSI) InjectionCAPEC-101likelihood: High · High
- HTTP Request SplittingCAPEC-105likelihood: Medium · High
- Command Line Execution through SQL InjectionCAPEC-108likelihood: Low · Very High
- Double EncodingCAPEC-120likelihood: Low · Medium
- Subverting Environment Variable ValuesCAPEC-13likelihood: High · Very High
- Format String InjectionCAPEC-135likelihood: High · High
- Client-side Injection-induced Buffer OverflowCAPEC-14likelihood: Medium · High
Change log
- Fix✗ → ✓
For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →
References
Show all references (9 more)Show less
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/11/msg00009.html
- lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/01/msg00000.html
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/7GRVZ5WAEI3XFN2BDTL6DDXFS5HYSDVB/
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/FUGLOJ6NXLCIFRD2JTXBYQEMAEF2B6XH/
- lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/YOGNT2XWPOYV7YT75DN7PS4GIYWFKOK5/
- saltproject.io/security_announcements/active-saltstack-cve-release-2021-feb-25/
- security.gentoo.org/glsa/202103-01
- security.gentoo.org/glsa/202310-22
- www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-5011
Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.