How severe is CVE-2021-31607?

CVE-2021-31607 has a CVSS score of 7.8/10, rated HIGH. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-31607?

CVE-2021-31607 affects the following packages: salt (PyPI). Ecosystems affected: PyPI.

How do I fix CVE-2021-31607?

Update salt to 3003rc1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-31607 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2021-31607 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-2021-31607 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-2021-31607 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for CVE-2021-31607, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation 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-2021-31607?

CVE-2021-31607 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 5.9%, placing it in the 93th 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-2021-31607?

CVE-2021-31607 is classified as OS Command Injection (CWE-78). 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-2021-31607 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-31607 was published on April 23, 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

HIGH severity

CVE-2021-31607 — salt

HIGH

CVE-2021-31607 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) OS Command Injection vulnerability in salt. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for salt — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Command Injection in SaltStack Salt

Also known asGHSA-hcjf-rp5h-g5h3PYSEC-2021-56

Published

Apr 23, 2021

Updated

Oct 24, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

1 known

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

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

5.9%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs93th percentile — riskier than 93% 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

In SaltStack Salt 2016.9 through 3002.6, a command injection vulnerability exists in the snapper module that allows for local privilege escalation on a minion. The attack requires that a file is created with a pathname that is backed up by snapper, and that the master calls the snapper.diff function (which executes popen unsafely).

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐍PyPI	`salt`	≥ 2016.11.0&&< 3003rc1	3003rc1`pip install --upgrade 'salt==3003rc1'`

Affected Products

2 products · 4 configurations

fedorafedoraproject

3 versions

333435

Application

saltsaltstack

≥ 2016.9 && ≤ 3002.6

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.

In SaltStack Salt 2016.9 through 3002.6, a command injection vulnerabili…

sec.stealthcopter.comNVDMay 2021

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 3003rc1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2021-31607 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-2021-31607 in your dependencies?

Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.

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