CVE-2013-4437
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedUnspecified vulnerability in salt-ssh in Salt (aka SaltStack) 0.17.0 has unspecified impact and vectors related to "insecure Usage of /tmp."
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · low confidenceVulnerability in salt-ssh component of SaltStack version 0.17.0 involves insecure handling of temporary files in the /tmp directory. This likely allows local privilege escalation or code execution through symlink attacks or TOCTOU (time-of-check-time-of-use) race conditions when the application creates or accesses files in the world-writable /tmp location.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data= 0.17.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- Complete
- Integrity
- Complete
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Salt installationRun 'salt-minion --version' or 'salt --version' to determine if SaltStack Salt is installed on the systemAffected if No output or command not found means Salt is not installed
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Confirm exact version 0.17.0Compare the installed version output to the affected range = 0.17.0. Use 'salt --version' or check the package manager (e.g., 'rpm -q salt' or 'dpkg -l salt')Affected if The installed version is exactly 0.17.0
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Verify salt-ssh component is in useCheck if the salt-ssh executable exists and is accessible: run 'which salt-ssh' or 'ls -la /usr/bin/salt-ssh'Affected if salt-ssh is present and executable on the system
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Inspect temporary file behaviorMonitor or review Salt configuration files for references to /tmp usage. Check /etc/salt/ or ~/.salt/ for configuration options related to temp directory settingsAffected if Configuration or code references /tmp for temporary file storage and the application runs as a privileged user
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Check /tmp permissions and usageExamine /tmp directory permissions (ls -ld /tmp) and review any Salt-created files within /tmp during operation for world-writable permissionsAffected if The /tmp directory is world-writable (standard) and Salt creates temporary files there during execution
You are affected only if SaltStack Salt version 0.17.0 is installed with the salt-ssh component actively using /tmp for temporary file operations.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scopedAvoid using /tmp for temporary file storage; configure Salt to use a secure, application-owned temporary directory with appropriate permissions (e.g., /var/run/salt or a dedicated tmpfs with restricted permissions). Upgrade to a patched version of Salt if available.
Salt 0.17.1
- Upgrade Salt from version 0.17.0 to version 0.17.1 using your package manager or installation method (pip, yum, apt, etc.)
- After upgrading, verify the new version by running: salt --version
- Ensure any salt-ssh related configurations are reviewed after upgrade per SaltStack best practices
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,600.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-4437 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-4437 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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