CVE-2021-25282 in SaltStack Salt
Summary
by MITRE • 02/27/2021
An issue was discovered in through SaltStack Salt before 3002.5. The salt.wheel.pillar_roots.write method is vulnerable to directory traversal.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/14/2021
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2021-25282 affects SaltStack Salt versions prior to 3002.5 and represents a critical directory traversal flaw within the salt.wheel.pillar_roots.write method. This vulnerability exposes the SaltStack configuration management platform to unauthorized file system access and manipulation, potentially allowing attackers to write files to arbitrary locations on the system. The issue stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization within the pillar roots writing functionality, which is a core component of SaltStack's configuration management capabilities.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability allows an authenticated attacker with access to the salt.wheel.pillar_roots.write API endpoint to manipulate file paths through malicious input. When the method processes user-supplied data for writing pillar root files, it fails to properly validate or sanitize the file path parameters, enabling attackers to craft malicious requests that can traverse directory structures beyond the intended scope. This flaw directly maps to CWE-22, which defines directory traversal vulnerabilities as weaknesses that occur when untrusted input is used to construct file paths without proper validation, allowing attackers to access files outside the intended directory.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is significant for organizations relying on SaltStack for infrastructure automation and configuration management. Attackers could potentially overwrite critical system files, inject malicious content into configuration files, or gain unauthorized access to sensitive data stored within the pillar roots directory structure. This capability could lead to complete system compromise, data exfiltration, or disruption of critical infrastructure services managed through SaltStack. The vulnerability particularly affects environments where SaltStack is used for managing large-scale deployments and where pillar data contains sensitive configuration information.
Security practitioners should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to SaltStack Salt version 3002.5 or later, which contains the necessary patches for this vulnerability. Organizations should also review and restrict access to the salt.wheel.pillar_roots.write API endpoint to only trusted users and implement proper input validation at the application level. Network segmentation and monitoring of API access patterns can help detect potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.001 for command and scripting interpreter, as exploitation may involve writing malicious scripts or configuration files that could be executed by the SaltStack infrastructure. Additionally, this issue demonstrates the importance of proper access control and input validation in distributed configuration management systems, as highlighted in the NIST Cybersecurity Framework under the Protect function.