# CVE-2016-1866: Salt Improper Access Control

> Man-in-the-middle attackers can execute arbitrary code on Salt minions by inserting packets into the data stream.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 12 Apr 2016
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-vqh4-crjf-jjxx, PYSEC-2016-23, openSUSE-SU-2024:10291-1

## What is CVE-2016-1866?

CVE-2016-1866 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in Opensuse Leap, published on 12 Apr 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Salt 2015.8.x before 2015.8.4 does not properly handle clear messages on the minion, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to execute arbitrary code by inserting packets into the minion-master data stream.

Weakness: CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-1866?

3 open source packages ship an affected version, including salt. It affects 2 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `salt` | PyPI | From 2015.8 | 2015.8.4 |
| `salt` | PyPI | From 2015.8.0rc1 | 2015.8.4 |
| `salt` | PyPI | From 2015.8.0rc1 | 2015.8.4 |

Products: Opensuse Leap, Saltstack Salt.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-1866?

Upgrade salt to 2015.8.4 or later.

## Is CVE-2016-1866 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-1866 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Opensuse Leap

- [CVE-2015-4902](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-4902/): Oracle Java SE Integrity Check (medium 5.3, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2017-14804](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14804/): package builds could use directory traversal to write outside of target area (critical 9.9)
- [CVE-2019-20787](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20787/): Teeworlds before 0.7.4 has an integer overflow when computing a tilemap size. (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-8341](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-8341/): Code injection in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-6438](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-6438/): Other in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-1866 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-1866 is a high-severity code injection vulnerability in Opensuse Leap, published on 12 Apr 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-1866 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- salt (PyPI): affected from 2015.8; fixed in 2015.8.4
- salt (PyPI): affected from 2015.8.0rc1; fixed in 2015.8.4
- salt (PyPI): affected from 2015.8.0rc1; fixed in 2015.8.4

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1866/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1866/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-1866
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-1866
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-1866

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1866/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.