How severe is CVE-2021-25283?

CVE-2021-25283 has a CVSS score of 9.8/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-25283?

CVE-2021-25283 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-2021-25283?

Update salt to 2015.8.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-25283 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2021-25283 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-2021-25283 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-2021-25283 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2021-25283 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-2021-25283?

CVE-2021-25283 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 10.4%, placing it in the 96th 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 warrants monitoring and prompt remediation.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2021-25283?

CVE-2021-25283 is classified as Code Injection (CWE-94). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2021-25283 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-25283 was published on February 27, 2021 and was last updated on October 20, 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

CRITICAL severity

CVE-2021-25283 — salt

CRITICAL

CVE-2021-25283 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) Code Injection vulnerability in salt. EPSS puts its 30-day exploitation probability at 10.4% (96th percentile). A fix is available for salt — see the affected versions and patch details below.

SaltStack Salt Server Side Template Injection

Also known asGHSA-xgmh-gfxw-2hvvPYSEC-2021-52

Published

Feb 27, 2021

Updated

Oct 20, 2026

Affected

9 pkgs

Patched

8 / 9

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 12, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

10.4%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Moderate Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs96th percentile — riskier than 96% 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 through SaltStack Salt before 3002.5. The jinja renderer does not protect against server side template injection attacks.

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

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-2021-25283 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

An issue was discovered in through SaltStack Salt before 3002.5. The jinja renderer does not protect against server side template injection attacks.

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2021-25283 in your dependencies?

Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works