CVE-2020-28972

In SaltStack Salt before 3002.5, authentication to VMware vcenter, vsphere, and esxi servers (in the vmware.py files) does not always validate the SSL/TLS certificate.

Published: 2021-02-27 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-28972 is rated Moderate Risk (49.9/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.80%). 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-2020-28972

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 2026-04-19 0.46% 0.80% +0.34%
2 2026-01-30 0.80% 0.46% -0.34%
3 2025-12-28 — 0.80% —

Full EPSS history (28 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-28972

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N 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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 3.6 [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-2020-28972

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2020-28972

GHSA-w589-r335-4f55 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: pip — SaltStack Salt Improper Certificate Validation

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-28972

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2020-28972: 1 source package rows (salt); 6 state rows across 2 repos (3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 0, open 6. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-28972
gentoo high CVE-2020-28972: 2 GLSA(s) (202103-01, 202310-22), 1 atom(s) (app-admin/salt); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-28972
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-28972
suse critical CVE-2020-28972 severity critical: SUSE including 156 source package names (py26-compat-salt, py26-compat-salt-2016.11.10-10.22.1, …), 417 product×package rows across 59 product lines (Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-BYOS, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-HPC-BYOS, … (59 product lines)): Fixed 375, Known Not Affected 42. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-28972/
ubuntu medium CVE-2020-28972 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (salt), 16 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 7, ignored 5, released 3, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-28972

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-28972

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
saltstack salt < 2015.8.10 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 2015.8.11, < 2015.8.13 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 2016.3.0, < 2016.3.4 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 2016.3.5, < 2016.3.6 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 2016.3.7, < 2016.3.8 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 2016.3.9, < 2016.11.3 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 2016.11.4, < 2016.11.5 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 2016.11.7, < 2016.11.10 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 2017.5.0, < 2017.7.8 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 2018.2.0, <= 2018.3.5 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 2019.2.0, < 2019.2.5 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 2019.2.6, < 2019.2.8 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 3000, < 3000.6 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 3001, < 3001.4 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 3002, < 3002.5 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 32 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-28972

URL Tags
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/11/msg00009.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/7GRVZ5WAEI3XFN2BDTL6DDXFS5HYSDVB/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/FUGLOJ6NXLCIFRD2JTXBYQEMAEF2B6XH/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/YOGNT2XWPOYV7YT75DN7PS4GIYWFKOK5/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://saltproject.io/security_announcements/active-saltstack-cve-release-2021-feb-25/ Vendor Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202103-01 Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202310-22 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2021/dsa-5011 Third Party Advisory
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