How severe is CVE-2020-17490?

CVE-2020-17490 has a CVSS score of 5.5/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2020-17490?

CVE-2020-17490 affects the following packages: salt (PyPI), salt (PyPI), salt (PyPI), salt (PyPI), salt (PyPI), salt (PyPI), salt (PyPI), salt (PyPI), and 1 more. Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix CVE-2020-17490?

Update salt to 2015.8.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-17490 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2020-17490 in my PyPI dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for salt, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2020-17490 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Is CVE-2020-17490 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2020-17490 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-17490?

CVE-2020-17490 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.4%, placing it in the 36th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2020-17490?

CVE-2020-17490 is classified as CWE-732 (CWE-732). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2020-17490 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-17490 was published on November 6, 2020 and was last updated on October 24, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐍

🐍 PyPI

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2020-17490 — salt

MEDIUM

CVE-2020-17490 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) CWE-732 vulnerability in salt. A fix is available for salt — see the affected versions and patch details below.

SaltStack Salt Allows creating certificates with weak file permissions

Also known asGHSA-3c56-vx6v-q5vhPYSEC-2020-105

Published

Nov 6, 2020

Updated

Oct 24, 2026

Affected

9 pkgs

Patched

9 / 9

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 10, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk-0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs36th percentile — riskier than 36% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

9 pkgs affected

🐍salt🐍salt🐍salt🐍salt🐍salt🐍salt🐍salt🐍salt+1 more

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

The TLS module within SaltStack Salt through 3002 creates certificates with weak file permissions.

Affected Packages

9 total 9 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`salt`	all versions	2015.8.13`pip install --upgrade 'salt==2015.8.13'`
🐍PyPI	`salt`	≥ 2016.3.0&&< 2016.3.8	2016.3.8`pip install --upgrade 'salt==2016.3.8'`
🐍PyPI	`salt`	≥ 2016.11.0&&< 2016.11.10	2016.11.10`pip install --upgrade 'salt==2016.11.10'`
🐍PyPI	`salt`	≥ 2017.5.0&&< 2017.7.8	2017.7.8`pip install --upgrade 'salt==2017.7.8'`
🐍PyPI	`salt`	≥ 2018.2.0&&< 2018.3.5	2018.3.5`pip install --upgrade 'salt==2018.3.5'`
🐍PyPI	`salt`	≥ 2019.2.0&&< 2019.2.6	2019.2.6`pip install --upgrade 'salt==2019.2.6'`

Affected Products

2 products · 16 configurations

debian linuxdebian

2 versions

9.010.0

Application

saltsaltstack

≥ 3000.0 && < 3000.3

1 version

3001

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for salt, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update salt to 2015.8.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-17490 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.

Frequently Asked Questions

The TLS module within SaltStack Salt through 3002 creates certificates with weak file permissions.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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