CVE-2020-16846

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreHIGH confidence

Score elevated to 9.8 because this CVE is listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), indicating real-world exploitation has been confirmed by US federal agencies. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8 retained for reference. Confidence: HIGH.

Triggered by: CISA KEV (actively exploited)
Sources: cisa_kev, epss, nvd
Trending — 4 sources updated this weekExploited in the wild
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch nowTreat as an emergency — this is being exploited.
  • Actively exploited in the wild (CISA-KEV)
CISA-KEV: ExploitedEPSS PROB: 100%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: cisa kev · ssvc active · Metasploit · epss top5pct · epss high · public exploitExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

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.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(high)
EG Risk
99(Act)
EG Risk 99/100SSVC: Act

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation100% × 40%
Automatability100% × 15%
Action: Fix now — active exploitation, automatable, high impact.
EPSS PROB
100%
EPSS %ILE
100%
KEV
⚠ Exploited

Published

November 6, 2020

Last Modified

November 7, 2025

Advisory Details (8)

Auto-updated Sep 17, 2026
Patch available.
generic

ZDI-20-1379 - TrendAI™ Zero Day Initiative™ (ZDI)

https://www.zerodayinitiative.com/advisories/ZDI-20-1379/
generic

[SECURITY] [DSA 4837-1] salt security update

https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-4837
generic

Salt: Multiple vulnerabilities (GLSA 202011-13) — Gentoo security

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202011-13
generic

[SECURITY] Fedora 31 Update: salt-3001.3-1.fc31 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists

https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TPOGB2F6XUAIGFDTOCQDNB2VIXFXHWMA/
generic Patch Available

[SECURITY] [DLA 2480-2] salt regression update

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/01/msg00000.html
generic Patch Available

[SECURITY] [DLA 2480-1] salt security update

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00007.html
generic

Releases · saltstack/salt · GitHub

https://github.com/saltstack/salt/releases
generic

Packet Storm Security

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/160039/SaltStack-Salt-REST-API-Arbitrary-Command-Execution.html

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntusalt-syndic (0.17.5+ds-1ubuntu0.1~esm4) @ trusty2026-09-19ubuntu
ubuntusalt-syndic (2015.8.8+ds-1ubuntu0.1+esm2) @ xenial2026-09-19ubuntu

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(3 across 3 ecosystems)
Debian:10(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
salt2018.3.4+dfsg1-6, 2018.3.4+dfsg1-6+deb10u12018.3.4+dfsg1-6+deb10u2—
Debian:9(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
salt2016.11.2+ds-1 ... 2016.11.2+ds-1+deb9u5 (6 versions)2016.11.2+ds-1+deb9u6—
PyPI(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
salt0.10.0 ... 3000.2 (144 versions)3000.3—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(2)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 42× in last 7d / 151× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 517 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-19 08:17 UTCVendor advisory
  2. 2026-09-19 03:57 UTCVendor advisory
  3. 2026-09-18 23:37 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-09-18 23:37 UTCVendor advisory
  5. 2026-09-18 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-09-18 19:20 UTCCISA KEV update
  7. 2026-09-18 19:17 UTCVendor advisory
  8. 2026-09-18 14:57 UTCVendor advisory
  9. 2026-09-18 14:15 UTCCISA KEV update
  10. 2026-09-18 10:36 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-09-18 06:15 UTCVendor advisory
  12. 2026-09-18 01:55 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-09-17 21:35 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-09-17 12:15 UTCVendor advisory
  15. 2026-09-17 07:55 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-09-17 03:35 UTCVendor advisory
  17. 2026-09-16 23:14 UTCVendor advisory
  18. 2026-09-16 18:53 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-09-16 14:31 UTCVendor advisory
  20. 2026-09-16 14:10 UTCCISA KEV update
  21. 2026-09-16 10:10 UTCVendor advisory
  22. 2026-09-16 05:49 UTCVendor advisory
  23. 2026-09-16 01:29 UTCVendor advisory
  24. 2026-09-15 21:09 UTCVendor advisory
  25. 2026-09-15 16:48 UTCVendor advisory
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-09-15 12:28 UTCVendor advisory
  2. 2026-09-15 08:07 UTCVendor advisory
  3. 2026-09-15 03:46 UTCVendor advisory
  4. 2026-09-14 23:26 UTCVendor advisory
  5. 2026-09-14 19:24 UTCCISA KEV update
  6. 2026-09-14 19:05 UTCVendor advisory
  7. 2026-09-14 14:44 UTCVendor advisory
  8. 2026-09-14 10:23 UTCVendor advisory
  9. 2026-09-14 06:03 UTCVendor advisory
  10. 2026-09-14 01:43 UTCVendor advisory
  11. 2026-09-13 21:22 UTCVendor advisory
  12. 2026-09-13 17:02 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-09-13 12:42 UTCVendor advisory
  14. 2026-09-13 08:21 UTCVendor advisory
  15. 2026-09-13 04:02 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-09-12 23:41 UTCVendor advisory
  17. 2026-09-12 19:21 UTCVendor advisory
  18. 2026-09-12 15:00 UTCVendor advisory
  19. 2026-09-12 10:40 UTCVendor advisory
  20. 2026-09-12 06:18 UTCVendor advisory
  21. 2026-09-12 01:58 UTCVendor advisory
  22. 2026-09-11 21:38 UTCVendor advisory
  23. 2026-09-11 18:49 UTCCISA KEV update
  24. 2026-09-11 17:18 UTCVendor advisory
  25. 2026-09-11 12:57 UTCVendor advisory
  26. 2026-09-11 08:36 UTCVendor advisory
  27. 2026-09-11 04:16 UTCVendor advisory
  28. 2026-09-10 23:56 UTCVendor advisory
  29. 2026-09-10 19:36 UTCVendor advisory
  30. 2026-09-10 19:28 UTCCISA KEV update
  31. 2026-09-10 15:16 UTCVendor advisory
  32. 2026-09-10 10:56 UTCEG score recompute
  33. 2026-09-10 09:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-09-10 06:35 UTCVendor advisory
  35. 2026-09-10 02:14 UTCVendor advisory
  36. 2026-09-09 19:08 UTCCISA KEV update
  37. 2026-09-09 17:31 UTCVendor advisory
  38. 2026-09-09 13:11 UTCVendor advisory
  39. 2026-09-09 08:50 UTCVendor advisory
  40. 2026-09-09 04:29 UTCVendor advisory
  41. 2026-09-09 00:09 UTCVendor advisory
  42. 2026-09-08 19:49 UTCVendor advisory
  43. 2026-09-08 18:54 UTCCISA KEV update
  44. 2026-09-08 15:29 UTCVendor advisory
  45. 2026-09-08 06:43 UTCVendor advisory
  46. 2026-09-08 02:22 UTCVendor advisory
  47. 2026-09-07 22:02 UTCVendor advisory
  48. 2026-09-07 17:41 UTCVendor advisory
  49. 2026-09-07 04:34 UTCVendor advisory
  50. 2026-09-06 15:28 UTCEG score recompute
  51. 2026-09-06 15:28 UTCVendor advisory
  52. 2026-09-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-09-06 11:07 UTCVendor advisory
  54. 2026-09-06 06:47 UTCVendor advisory
  55. 2026-09-06 02:26 UTCVendor advisory
  56. 2026-09-05 22:05 UTCVendor advisory
  57. 2026-09-05 17:45 UTCEG score recompute
  58. 2026-09-05 15:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  59. 2026-09-05 13:25 UTCVendor advisory
  60. 2026-09-05 09:04 UTCVendor advisory
  61. 2026-09-05 04:44 UTCVendor advisory
  62. 2026-09-04 17:38 UTCCISA KEV update
  63. 2026-09-04 11:17 UTCVendor advisory
  64. 2026-09-03 00:23 UTCVendor advisory
  65. 2026-09-02 20:01 UTCVendor advisory
  66. 2026-09-02 17:33 UTCCISA KEV update
  67. 2026-09-01 22:11 UTCVendor advisory
  68. 2026-09-01 00:24 UTCVendor advisory
  69. 2026-08-31 14:19 UTCCISA KEV update
  70. 2026-08-31 06:57 UTCVendor advisory
  71. 2026-08-31 02:36 UTCVendor advisory
  72. 2026-08-30 22:16 UTCVendor advisory
  73. 2026-08-30 17:56 UTCVendor advisory
  74. 2026-08-30 13:36 UTCVendor advisory
  75. 2026-08-30 09:14 UTCVendor advisory

Publicly available exploits

(2 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Metasploit module). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • Metasploitexploit/linux/http/saltstack_salt_api_cmd_exec✓ verified
    First seen Nov 3, 2020

    SaltStack Salt REST API Arbitrary Command Execution

    Open source ↗
  • Nucleihttp/cves/2020/CVE-2020-16846.yaml
    First seen Jan 1, 2020

    SaltStack <=3002 - Shell Injection

    Open source ↗

Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)

Frequently asked(6)

What is CVE-2020-16846?
CVE-2020-16846 is a critical vulnerability published on November 6, 2020. 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.
When was CVE-2020-16846 disclosed?
CVE-2020-16846 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on November 6, 2020, with the most recent update on November 7, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2020-16846 actively exploited?
Yes. CISA added CVE-2020-16846 to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on November 3, 2021, affecting SaltStack Salt. KEV listing indicates confirmed exploitation in the wild; this CVE warrants immediate patching attention.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2020-16846?
CVE-2020-16846 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
Which products are affected by CVE-2020-16846?
CVE-2020-16846 affects SaltStack Salt. The full affected-products list, including version ranges and fixed versions, is shown in the Affected Packages section of this page.
How do I remediate CVE-2020-16846?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2020-16846, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2020-16846

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