CVE-2020-28972
Published: 27 February 2021
Summary
CVE-2020-28972 is a medium-severity Improper Certificate Validation (CWE-295) vulnerability in Saltstack Salt. Its CVSS base score is 5.9 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked in the top 25.5% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2021-0236
Vulnerability details
In SaltStack Salt before 3002.5, authentication to VMware vcenter, vsphere, and esxi servers (in the vmware.py files) does not always validate the SSL/TLS certificate.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
When certificates are used to establish component provenance, the control requires correct certificate validation procedures.
Mandates approved trust anchors and issuance policies, directly preventing acceptance of unvalidated or untrusted certificates.
Correct system time is required for proper enforcement of certificate notBefore/notAfter dates and time-based revocation checks.