• Platformchevron right
  • Solutionschevron right
  • Modern NDRchevron right
  • Resourceschevron right
  • Companychevron right

DETECTION OVERVIEW

Salt Exploit Attempt - CVE-2020-11651

Risk Factors

The Salt management framework is deployed in thousands of networks and Salt Master servers might be public-facing. An unauthenticated attacker can employ publicly-available exploit code to launch an attack. A successful exploit can enable the attacker to run root-level commands on any connected Salt device within a network.

Kill Chain

Exploitation

Risk Score

83

Detection diagram
Next in Exploitation: Shellshock DHCP Exploit Attempt

Attack Background

Salt is an open-source framework for managing devices within a network. Devices that run an agent, Salt Minions, connect to a Salt Master. The Salt Master monitors the state of Salt Minions and publishes update messages (including commands) to them. A vulnerability was discovered in the Salt Master that exposes two methods (_prep_auth_info and _send_pub) to an unauthenticated attacker. The attacker connects to the Salt Master on port 4506 to call these methods. The _send_pub method enables the attacker to queue arbitrary commands in the Salt Master that are then published to Salt Minions. The _prep_auth_info method returns the master authentication token to the attacker. This token allows the attacker to run administrative commands on the Salt Master. Ultimately, the attacker can gain complete control of the Salt Master and connected Salt Minions in the network.

Mitigation Options

Install relevant patches for the affected versions

Complete all remote administration tasks from a dedicated management host, jump server, or bastion host

Make sure TCP:4506 and TCP:4505 are not exposed to the internet

Monitor traffic on TCP:4506

MITRE ATT&CK ID

What else can RevealX do for you?