CVE-2021-21996

An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 3003.3. A user who has control of the source, and source_hash URLs can gain full file system access as root on a salt minion.

Published: 2021-09-08 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-21996 is rated Moderate Risk (59.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.26%). 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-2021-21996

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 2.74% 2.26% -0.48%
2 2025-12-28 3.65% 2.74% -0.91%
3 2025-12-27 — 3.65% —

Full EPSS history (27 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-21996

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.6 5.9 [email protected]
7.1 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:H/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:H)
Exploitation requires uncommon or highly specific conditions.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-21996

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2021-21996

GHSA-pf7h-h2wq-m7pg · Severity: high · Ecosystem: pip — Exposure of Resource to Wrong Sphere in salt

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-21996

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2021-21996: 1 source package rows (salt); 4 state rows across 2 repos (3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 0, open 4. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2021-21996
gentoo high CVE-2021-21996: 1 GLSA(s) (202310-22), 1 atom(s) (app-admin/salt); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2021-21996
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-21996
suse medium CVE-2021-21996 severity moderate: SUSE including 519 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 978 product×package rows across 76 product lines (Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-BYOS, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-HPC-BYOS, … (76 product lines)): Fixed 729, Known Affected 231, Known Not Affected 18. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2021-21996/
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-21996 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (salt), 15 status rows across 15 suites (bionic, focal, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 7, ignored 3, not-affected 3, needed 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-21996

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-21996

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
saltstack salt < 3000.3 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 35 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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-2021-21996

URL Tags
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/11/msg00017.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/11/msg00019.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/6BUWUF5VTENNP2ZYZBVFKPSUHLKLUBD5/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ACVT7M4YLZRLWWQ6SGRK3C6TOF4FXOXT/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/MBAHHSGZLEJRCG4DX6J4RBWJAAWH55RQ/ Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://saltproject.io/security_announcements/salt-security-advisory-2021-sep-02/ Patch Vendor 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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