CVE-2023-20898

Git Providers can read from the wrong environment because they get the same cache directory base name in Salt masters prior to 3005.2 or 3006.2. Anything that uses Git Providers with different environments can get garbage data or the wrong data, which can lead to wrongful data disclosure, wrongful executions, data corruption and/or crash.

Published: 2023-09-05 Last update: 2025-02-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-20898 is rated Low Risk (26.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.12%). 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-2023-20898

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 0.15% 0.12% -0.03%
2 2025-03-29 0.12% 0.15% +0.03%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.12% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-20898

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.2 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.1 2.7 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.
 1.1 6.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-20898

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-20898

GHSA-qvh6-3j7x-3hq7 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: pip — Salt can cause Git Providers to get wrong data

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-20898

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-20898: 1 source package rows (salt); 11 state rows across 3 repos (3.18-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 0, open 11. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-20898
gentoo normal CVE-2023-20898: 1 GLSA(s) (202412-09), 1 atom(s) (app-admin/salt); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-20898
suse medium — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-20898/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-20898 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (salt), 12 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 7, needed 3, not-affected 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-20898

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-20898

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
saltstack salt < 3005.2 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
saltstack salt >= 3006.0, < 3006.2 cpe:2.3:a:saltstack:salt:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-20898

cvelogic Threat Intelligence