SaltApplication · Saltstack

CVE-2022-22936

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-03-29
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3002.8 / 3003.4 or later.
See remediation →
93/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt in versions before 3002.8, 3003.4, 3004.1. Job publishes and file server replies are susceptible to replay attacks, which can result in an attacker replaying job publishes causing minions to run old jobs. File server replies can also be re-played. A sufficient craft attacker could gain root access on minion under certain scenarios.

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 · high confidence

This is a replay attack vulnerability in SaltStack Salt's communication protocol. An attacker can capture and replay valid job publishes or file server replies, causing minions to execute previously-run jobs or serve stale file content. Under certain conditions, this can allow an attacker to gain root access on minions.

MitigationUpgrade Salt to version 3002.8, 3003.4, 3004.1 or later, which includes replay attack protection mechanisms. Additionally, implement network-level controls to prevent unauthorized capture of Salt traffic.

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
SaltApplication
Affected:>= 3002, < 3002.8>= 3003, < 3003.4>= 3004, < 3004.1

CVSS 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
Adjacent
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Salt master version
    Run 'salt-master --version' or 'salt --version' on the master node
    Affected if Version is >= 3002 and < 3002.8, or >= 3003 and < 3003.4, or >= 3004 and < 3004.1
  2. Check Salt minion version
    Run 'salt-minion --version' on each minion node, or use 'salt "*" cmd.run "salt-minion --version"' from the master
    Affected if Version is >= 3002 and < 3002.8, or >= 3003 and < 3003.4, or >= 3004 and < 3004.1
  3. Identify all Salt installations on the network
    Inventory all systems running salt-master or salt-minion services using 'ps aux | grep salt' or checking package managers
    Affected if Any system runs a Salt version in the affected ranges
  4. Review Salt job history for anomalies
    Examine /var/log/salt/master or use 'salt-run jobs.list_jobs' to look for duplicate job IDs or unexpected repeated executions
    Affected if Duplicate job IDs or jobs re-executing unexpectedly are found in logs

You are affected if any Salt master or minion in your environment runs a version within 3002.x before 3002.8, 3003.x before 3003.4, or 3004.x before 3004.1.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3002.8 / 3003.4 / 3004.1 or later
Fixed in 3002.83003.43004.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Salt to version 3002.8, 3003.4, 3004.1 or later, which includes replay attack protection mechanisms. Additionally, implement network-level controls to prevent unauthorized capture of Salt traffic.

Recommended fix High confidence

3002.8, 3003.4, or 3004.1 (depending on your current version branch)

  1. Identify your current Salt version using `salt --version` or `salt-master --version`
  2. If running >= 3002 and < 3002.8, upgrade to version 3002.8
  3. If running >= 3003 and < 3003.4, upgrade to version 3003.4
  4. If running >= 3004 and < 3004.1, upgrade to version 3004.1
  5. Upgrade method depends on installation method: for example, using pip: `pip install --upgrade salt==<fixed_version>`
  6. Alternatively, use OS package manager (e.g., apt, yum) with SaltStack repository
  7. After upgrade, restart salt-master and salt-minion services: `systemctl restart salt-master salt-minion`
  8. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the new version
Caveat Review SaltStack upgrade notes for breaking changes between minor versions; test in non-production environment first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Salt Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

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dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-22936 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data