CVE-2013-4436

The default configuration for salt-ssh in Salt (aka SaltStack) 0.17.0 does not validate the SSH host key of requests, which allows remote attackers to have unspecified impact via a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack.

Published: 2013-11-05 Last update: 2026-04-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2013-4436 is rated Moderate Risk (64.9/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.82%). Core evidence: EPSS rose +1.11% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2013-4436

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.71% 1.82% +1.11%
2 2025-03-30 1.37% 0.71% -0.66%
3 2025-03-29 1.37%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2013-4436

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
8.6 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2013-4436

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2013-4436

GHSA-f22j-37jj-cxw9 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: pip — SaltStack MITM SSH attack in salt-ssh

OS Trackers for CVE-2013-4436

vendor priority summary link
ubuntu medium CVE-2013-4436 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (salt), 7 status rows across 7 suites (lucid, precise, quantal, raring, saucy, trusty, upstream): ignored 3, DNE 2, not-affected 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2013-4436

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2013-4436

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
saltstack salt 0.17.0 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:0.17.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2013-4436

cvelogic Threat Intelligence