How severe is CVE-2021-22004?

CVE-2021-22004 has a CVSS score of 6.4/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-22004?

CVE-2021-22004 affects the following packages: salt (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix CVE-2021-22004?

Update salt to 3003.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-22004 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2021-22004 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-2021-22004 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-2021-22004 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2021-22004 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-2021-22004?

CVE-2021-22004 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 0.4%, placing it in the 29th 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-2021-22004?

CVE-2021-22004 is classified as CWE-362 (CWE-362). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation.

When was CVE-2021-22004 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-22004 was published on September 8, 2021 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-2021-22004 — salt

MEDIUM

CVE-2021-22004 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.4) CWE-362 vulnerability in salt. A fix is available for salt — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Improper Authentication in SaltStack Salt

Also known asGHSA-xf37-qcvf-7m57PYSEC-2021-346

Published

Sep 8, 2021

Updated

Oct 24, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 8, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

0.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs29th percentile — riskier than 29% 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

1 pkg affected

🐍salt

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 3003.3. The salt minion installer will accept and use a minion config file at C:\salt\conf if that file is in place before the installer is run. This allows for a malicious actor to subvert the proper behaviour of the given minion software.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`salt`	all versions	3003.3`pip install --upgrade 'salt==3003.3'`

Affected Products

2 products · 4 configurations

fedorafedoraproject

3 versions

333435

Application

saltsaltstack

< 3000.3

range

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 3003.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-22004 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

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

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