CVE-2016-3176

Salt before 2015.5.10 and 2015.8.x before 2015.8.8, when PAM external authentication is enabled, allows attackers to bypass the configured authentication service by passing an alternate service with a command sent to LocalClient.

Published: 2017-01-31 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-3176 is rated Low Risk (34.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.17%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2016-3176

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 2025-03-30 0.42% 0.17% -0.25%
2 2025-03-29 0.17% 0.42% +0.25%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.17% —

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-3176

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.6 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 2.2 3.4 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N 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:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-3176

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2016-3176

GHSA-v2rp-9cpj-pfw2 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: pip — Salt Insecure configuration of PAM external authentication service

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-3176

vendor priority summary link
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-3176
suse medium CVE-2016-3176 severity moderate: SUSE including 9 source package names (salt-2014.1.10-3.1, salt-2014.1.10-5.1, …), 9 product×package rows across 3 product lines (SUSE Enterprise Storage 1.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 2, SUSE Enterprise Storage 2.1): Fixed 9. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-3176/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-3176 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (salt), 20 status rows across 20 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, precise, questing, trusty, upstream, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): not-affected 9, DNE 8, released 2, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-3176

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-3176

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
saltstack salt <= 2015.5.9 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt 2015.8.0 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:2015.8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt 2015.8.1 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:2015.8.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt 2015.8.2 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:2015.8.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt 2015.8.3 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:2015.8.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt 2015.8.4 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:2015.8.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt 2015.8.5 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:2015.8.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt 2015.8.7 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:2015.8.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-3176

cvelogic Threat Intelligence