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CVE-2020-16846

9.8, critical Known exploited

SaltStack Salt Shell Injection Vulnerability

NVD (opens in a new tab) CVE.org (opens in a new tab) CISA KEV catalogue (opens in a new tab)
CVSS
9.8, critical critical CVSS v3.1
EPSS, next 30 days
100% higher than 99.9% of scored CVEs
Exploitation
Confirmed in the wild
Published
6 Nov 20205 years ago

Known exploited

CISA added this to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog on 3 Nov 2021. US federal agencies had to remediate by 3 May 2022, a deadline that has passed.

Required action. Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Description

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.

Details

Vendor
SaltStack and 3 more
Product
Salt
Weakness
CWE-78 (opens in a new tab)
Status
Analyzed
Updated
17 Jun 2026
Assigner
cve@mitre.org

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

References 15

Exploit code 1

Advisories 11

3 more

Other references 3

The kind is read from NVD's tags where present and from the shape of the URL otherwise, so treat it as a hint.

Other SaltStack CVEs

Every SaltStack CVE we hold

Same vendor in what we hold, not a known link between the flaws.

  • CVE-2020-11651 SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass Vulnerability KEV EPSS 97% 9.8, critical
  • CVE-2020-11652 SaltStack Salt Path Traversal Vulnerability KEV EPSS 86% 6.5, medium

Beyond this page

Is CVE-2020-16846 in your network?

This page tells you how dangerous CVE-2020-16846 is out there. Whether it sits on one of your devices, only a scan of your own network can tell. That is what our systems do, every day, for the companies we protect.

CVE-2020-16846 is in the CISA catalogue of exploited vulnerabilities: attackers are already exploiting it.

  • EXYS7600 OCELOT

    Find it before attackers do

    Ocelot scans your network on a schedule and reports every vulnerability it finds by its CVE identifier, with its CVSS score and how many of your hosts are affected. A finding like CVE-2020-16846 comes with the devices to patch.

    Learn more about EXYS7600 OCELOT

  • EXYS7950 KONDRA

    Detect it if it's exploited

    Until the patch is applied, Kondra monitors your network, events and endpoints in real time. It keeps an inventory of the software installed on every endpoint, and its anomaly detection rules flag what an attacker does once inside.

    Learn more about EXYS7950 KONDRA
Check your exposure

Assembled from the NVD 2.0 API, the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog and FIRST EPSS. Scores are as of our last collection on 17 Oct 2026, not the live upstream state.