Threats / SaltStack / CVE-2020-11651
CVE-2020-11651
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-06-22
SaltStack Salt vulnerability
SaltStack Salt authentication bypass in salt-master ClearFuncs allows remote unauthenticated access to methods, enabling token theft and minion command execution.
Verdict
Today item — known-exploited.
Remote attacker can bypass authentication to retrieve user tokens and execute arbitrary commands on managed minions without credentials, affecting deployments exposed to untrusted networks.
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
5 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03).
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.96405 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
Affected: SaltStack, Salt. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAttribution not established
No confirmed (advisory-backed) threat-actor attribution is established for this record. Absence of a named actor is not absence of compromise — see Coverage & confidence.
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I send unauthenticated requests to the salt-master ClearFuncs interface to invoke protected methods.
Business
Attacker gains unauthorized access to the salt-master API without valid credentials.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
I retrieve valid user authentication tokens from the compromised salt-master.
Business
Attacker obtains credentials enabling persistent access and lateral movement.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I use stolen tokens or direct method calls to execute arbitrary commands on salt minions.
Business
Attacker achieves remote code execution across the entire managed infrastructure.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05