How severe is CVE-2020-28243?

CVE-2020-28243 has a CVSS score of 7.8/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2020-28243?

CVE-2020-28243 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-2020-28243?

Update salt to 2015.8.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-28243 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2020-28243 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-2020-28243 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.

Is CVE-2020-28243 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 4 known exploit references for CVE-2020-28243, including 3 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2020-28243?

CVE-2020-28243 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 4.3%, placing it in the 91th 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-2020-28243?

CVE-2020-28243 is classified as CWE-77 (CWE-77). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2020-28243 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2020-28243 was published on February 27, 2021 and was last updated on July 8, 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

HIGH severity

CVE-2020-28243 — salt

HIGH

CVE-2020-28243 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) CWE-77 vulnerability in salt. 4 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for salt — see the affected versions and patch details below.

SaltStack Salt command injection via a crafted process name

Also known asGHSA-phhw-3wc9-8q75PYSEC-2021-73

Published

Feb 27, 2021

Updated

Jul 8, 2026

Affected

9 pkgs

Patched

8 / 9

Exploits

4 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 5, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

4.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs91th percentile — riskier than 91% 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

An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 3002.5. The minion's restartcheck is vulnerable to command injection via a crafted process name. This allows for a local privilege escalation by any user able to create a files on the minion in a non-blacklisted directory.

Affected Packages

9 total 8 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&&< 2016.11.5	2016.11.5`pip install --upgrade 'salt==2016.11.5'`
🐍PyPI	`salt`	≥ 2016.11.7&&< 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	No fix
🐍PyPI	`salt`	≥ 2019.2.0&&< 2019.2.8	2019.2.8`pip install --upgrade 'salt==2019.2.8'`

Affected Products

3 products · 21 configurations

debian linuxdebian

3 versions

9.010.011.0

fedorafedoraproject

3 versions

323334

Application

saltsaltstack

≥ 3002 && ≤ 2018.3.5

range

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

An issue was discovered in SaltStack Salt before 3002.5. The minion's re…

sec.stealthcopter.comNVDJul 2021

Report on github.com

github.comNVDJul 2021

Report on github.com

github.comGithubDec 2020

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-2020-28243 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2020-28243 in your dependencies?

Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.

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