Cyber Resilience

CVE-2021-25282

Path Traversal in Saltstack Salt ≤ 2015.8.10

Public PoCHigh EPSSPath Traversal
Published
27 February 2021
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.92 99.8th percentile
Risk Priority 92 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2021-25282 is a critical-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Saltstack Salt. Its CVSS base score is 9.1 (Critical).

Operationally, ranked in the top 0.2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An issue was discovered in through SaltStack Salt before 3002.5. The salt.wheel.pillar_roots.write method is vulnerable to directory traversal.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-32465Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-38633Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2024-38824Same product: Saltstack Salt
CVE-2019-5418Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2020-11652Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2020-36193Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2025-47273Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-40587Same product: Fedoraproject Fedora
CVE-2018-12895Same product: Debian Debian Linux
CVE-2023-52623Same product: Debian Debian Linux

Affected Assets

saltstack
salt
≤ 2015.8.10 · 2015.8.11 — 2015.8.13 · 2016.3.0 — 2016.3.4
fedoraproject
fedora
32, 33, 34
debian
debian linux
10.0, 11.0, 9.0

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V5.3.2

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.

addresses: CWE-22

Validates pathnames and filenames to prevent traversal outside intended directories.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.

PR.AA-05 none match
prevents

PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

detects

Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.

prevents

Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.

prevents

Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.

prevents

Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.

prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.

mitigates

Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.

References