CVE-2013-2228 in SaltStack
Summary
by MITRE
SaltStack RSA Key Generation allows remote users to decrypt communications
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/05/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2013-2228 affects SaltStack, a configuration management and automation platform widely used in enterprise environments for managing large-scale infrastructure. This weakness resides in the RSA key generation process employed by SaltStack's communication protocols, specifically impacting how cryptographic keys are created and handled during secure communications between master and minion nodes. The flaw enables remote attackers to potentially decrypt sensitive data transmitted between SaltStack components, undermining the fundamental security guarantees that cryptographic protocols are designed to provide.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from improper implementation of RSA key generation within SaltStack's cryptographic framework. When SaltStack generates RSA key pairs for secure communications, it fails to properly randomize or entropy-source the key generation process, creating predictable or weak cryptographic keys. This weakness allows attackers to reverse-engineer the private keys from the corresponding public keys or intercepted communications, effectively breaking the encryption that should protect sensitive configuration data, commands, and responses exchanged between SaltStack master and minion systems. The vulnerability specifically impacts the cryptographic libraries and key management components that SaltStack relies upon for establishing secure communication channels, making it particularly dangerous in environments where sensitive infrastructure data flows through these systems.
The operational impact of CVE-2013-2228 extends beyond simple data confidentiality breaches, as it compromises the integrity and authenticity of SaltStack communications. Attackers who successfully exploit this vulnerability can not only decrypt communications but also potentially impersonate legitimate SaltStack components, leading to unauthorized configuration changes, privilege escalation, and complete compromise of managed infrastructure. In enterprise environments where SaltStack is used for critical system management, this vulnerability creates a significant attack surface that could allow adversaries to gain persistent access to network infrastructure and execute malicious commands on managed systems. The vulnerability affects all versions of SaltStack prior to the security patch, making it particularly concerning for organizations with widespread SaltStack deployments across their infrastructure.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to patched versions of SaltStack where the RSA key generation has been properly addressed through improved entropy sources and cryptographic implementations. System administrators should also consider implementing additional monitoring for suspicious cryptographic key usage patterns and network communications that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-327, which addresses the use of weak cryptographic algorithms, and relates to ATT&CK technique T1552.001 for unsecured credentials and T1021.002 for remote services. Security teams should also review their key management policies and consider implementing certificate-based authentication as an additional layer of protection beyond the vulnerable RSA key generation mechanism. Organizations using SaltStack should conduct thorough security assessments to identify all systems potentially affected by this vulnerability and ensure proper key rotation procedures are in place to mitigate the risk of compromised cryptographic materials.