CVE-2020-16846SaltStack Salt Shell Injection Vulnerability

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.

9.8 CRITICALEPSS 99.58%⚡ Known Exploited (CISA KEV)NVD: Analyzed

Last updated: 2026-06-17 02:58 UTC

OverviewCVSS details

9.8CRITICALCVSS 3.1

Score source: NVD
NVD status: Analyzed
Published: Nov 6, 2020
Assigner: mitre

Affected

salt (saltstack)

Versions: before 2015.8.10 · 2015.8.11 before 2015.8.13
Fixed in: 2015.8.10, 2015.8.13, 2016.3.4

+3 more products →

Exploitation

Public exploit: Yes · 1 reference
CISA KEV: Listed · Nov 3, 2021
KEV due date: May 3, 2022
Ransomware use: Unknown
SSVC: Exploitation active · Automatable yes · Impact total

EPSS · FIRST, scored Nov 7

99.58%chance of exploitation in 30 days

Higher than 99.94% of CVEs

CVSS 3.1 · NVD

9.8Critical

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Privileges required: None
User interaction: None
Scope: Unchanged
Confidentiality impact: High
Integrity impact: High
Availability impact: High

CVSS 2.0 · NVD

7.5High

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Attack vector: Network
Attack complexity: Low
Authentication: None
Confidentiality impact: Partial
Integrity impact: Partial
Availability impact: Partial

NVD status: Analyzed

Overview Affected Products References

NVD CVE.org

Overview

Severity

Score	Severity	Version	Vector String
9.8	CRITICAL	3.1NVD	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
7.5	HIGH	2.0NVD	AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CISA required action

⚡ Known exploited · remediation due May 3, 2022

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Details

CVE ID: CVE-2020-16846
Status: Analyzed
Assigner (CNA): mitre
Published: Nov 6, 2020
Last modified: 2026-06-17 02:58 UTC
Weaknesses: CWE-78

Sources

Refreshed hourly from the sources above. Last fetched 2026-11-08 09:20 UTC.