VMware SALT prior 3006.12/3007.4 Cache path traversal

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability labeled as critical has been found in VMware SALT. Affected is an unknown function of the component Cache Handler. Such manipulation leads to path traversal. This vulnerability is documented as CVE-2025-22238. The attack needs to be performed locally. There is not any exploit available. The affected component should be upgraded.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability was found in VMware SALT and classified as problematic. Affected by this issue is an unknown part of the component Cache Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a path traversal vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-22. The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory. Impacted is integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

Directory traversal attack in minion file cache creation. The master's default cache is vulnerable to a directory traversal attack. Which could be leveraged to write or overwrite 'cache' files outside of the cache directory.

The advisory is shared for download at docs.saltproject.io. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-22238 since 01/02/2025. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack needs to be approached locally. The exploitation needs additional levels of successful authentication. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The MITRE ATT&CK project declares the attack technique as T1006.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 242657 (SUSE SLES15 Security Update : salt (SUSE-SU-2025:02502-1)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment.

Upgrading to version 3006.12 or 3007.4 eliminates this vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the databases at Tenable (242657) and EUVD (EUVD-2025-18252). Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

Productinfo

Vendor

• VMware

Name

• SALT

License

• commercial

Website

• Vendor: https://www.vmware.com/

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Once again VulDB remains the best source for vulnerability data.

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