Directory traversal vulnerability in minion id validation in SaltStack Salt before 2016.11.7 and 2017.7.x before 2017.7.1 allows remote minions with incorrect credentials to authenticate to a master via a crafted minion ID.

The remote Ubuntu 16.04 ESM host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-4769-1 advisory.

    It was discovered that Salt allowed remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a special crafted     file. An attacker could use this vulnerability to cause a DoS or possibly execute arbitrary code. This     issue only affected Ubuntu 14.04 ESM. (CVE-2014-3563)

    Andreas Stieger discovered that Salt exposed git usernames and passwords in log files. An attacker could     use this issue to retrieve sensitive information. This issue only affected Ubuntu 14.04 ESM.
    (CVE-2015-6918).

    It was discovered that Salt exposed password authentication credentials in log files. An attacker could     use this issue to retrieve sensitive information. This issue only affected Ubuntu 14.04 ESM.
    (CVE-2015-6941)

    It was discovered that Salt allowed remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a special crafted     file. An attacker could use this

    issue to cause a DoS or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2017-12791, CVE-2017-14695, CVE-2017-14696)

    It was discovered that Salt allowed remote attackers to determine which files exist on the server. An     attacker could use this issue to extract sensitive information. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 ESM.
    (CVE-2018-15750)

    It was discovered that Salt allowed users to bypass authentication. An attacker could use this issue to     extract sensitive information, execute arbitrary code or crash the server. This issue only affected Ubuntu     16.04 ESM. (CVE-2018-15751)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

An update of the salt package has been released.

This update for salt fixes the following issues :

  - [Regression] Permission problem: salt-ssh minion     boostrap doesn't work anymore. (bsc#1027722)

  - wrong use of os_family string for Suse in the locale     module and others (bsc#1038855)

  - Cannot bootstrap a host using 'Manage system completely     via SSH (will not install an agent)' (bsc#1002529)

  - add user to or replace members of group not working with     SLES11 SPx (bsc#978150)

  - SLES-12-GA client fail to start salt minion (SUSE     MANAGER 3.0) (bsc#991048)

  - salt pkg.latest raises exception if package is not     availible (bsc#1012999)

  - pkg.list_products on 'registerrelease' and 'productline'     returns boolean.False if empty (bsc#989193)

  - SLES-12-SP1 salt-minion clients has no Base Channel     added by default (bsc#986019)

  - 'The system requires a reboot' does not disappear from     web-UI despite the reboot (bsc#1017078)

  - Remove option -f from startproc (bsc#975733)

  - [PYTHON2] package salt-minion requires /usr/bin/python     (bsc#1081592)

  - Upgrading packages on RHEL6/7 client fails (bsc#1068566)

  - /var/log/salt has insecure permissions (bsc#1071322)

  - [Minion-bootstrapping] Invalid char cause server     (salt-master ERROR) (bsc#1011304)

  - CVE-2016-9639: Possible information leak due to revoked     keys still being used (bsc#1012398)

  - Bootstrapping SLES12 minion invalid (bsc#1053376)

  - Minions not correctly onboarded if Proxy has multiple     FQDNs (bsc#1063419)

  - salt --summary '*' <function> reporting '# of minions     that did not return' wrongly (bsc#972311)

  - RH-L3 SALT - Stacktrace if nscd package is not present     when using nscd state (bsc#1027044)

  - Inspector broken: no module 'query' or 'inspector' while     querying or inspecting (bsc#989798)

  - [ Regression ]Centos7 Minion remote command execution     from gui or cli , minion not responding (bsc#1027240)

  - SALT, minion_id generation doesn't match the newhostname     (bsc#967803)

  - Salt API server shuts down when SSH call with no matches     is issued (bsc#1004723)

  - /var/log/salt/minion fails logrotate (bsc#1030009)

  - Salt proxy test.ping crashes (bsc#975303)

  - salt master flood log with useless messages (bsc#985661)

  - After bootstrap salt client has deprecation warnings     (bsc#1041993)

  - Head: salt 2017.7.2 starts salt-master as user root     (bsc#1064520)

  - CVE-2017-12791: Maliciously crafted minion IDs can cause     unwanted directory traversals on the Salt-master     (bsc#1053955)

  - salt-2017.7.2 - broken %post script for salt-master     (bsc#1079048)

  - Tearing down deployment with SaltStack Kubernetes module     always shows error (bsc#1059291)

  - lvm.vg_present does not recognize PV with certain LVM     filter settings. (bsc#988506)

  - High state fails: No service execution module loaded:
    check support for service (bsc#1065792)

  - When multiple versions of a package are installed on a     minion, patch status may vary (bsc#972490)

  - Salt cp.push does not work on SUMA 3.2 Builds because of     python3.4 (bsc#1075950)

  - timezone modue does not update /etc/sysconfig/clock     (bsc#1008933)

  - Add patches to salt to support SUSE Manager scalability     features (bsc#1052264)

  - salt-minion failed to start on minimal RHEL6 because of     DBus exception during load of snapper module     (bsc#993039)

  - Permission denied: '/var/run/salt-master.pid'     (bsc#1050003)

  - Jobs scheduled to run at a future time stay pending for     Salt minions (bsc#1036125)

  - Backport kubernetes-modules to salt (bsc#1051948)

  - After highstate: The minion function caused an exception     (bsc#1068446)

  - VUL-0: CVE-2017-14695: salt: directory traversal     vulnerability in minion id validation (bsc#1062462)

  - unable to update salt-minion on RHEL (bsc#1022841)

  - Nodes run out of memory due to salt-minion process     (bsc#983512)

  - [Proxy] 'Broken pipe' during bootstrap of salt minion     (bsc#1039370)

  - incorrect return code from /etc/rc.d/salt-minion     (bsc#999852)

  - CVE-2017-5200: Salt-ssh via api let's run arbitrary     commands as user salt (bsc#1011800)

  - beacons.conf on salt-minion not processed (bsc#1060230)

  - SLES11 SP3 salt-minion Client Cannot Select Base Channel     (bsc#975093)

  - salt-ssh sys.doc gives authentication failure without     arguments (bsc#1019386)

  - minion bootstrapping: error when bootstrap SLE11 clients     (bsc#990439)

  - Certificate Deployment Fails for SLES11 SP3 Clients     (bsc#975757)

  - state.module run() does not translate varargs     (bsc#1025896)

Salt was updated to 2017.7.2 and also to fix various bugs and security issues.

See the following resources for the full changelog:
https://docs.saltstack.com/en/develop/topics/releases/2017.7.2.html https://docs.saltstack.com/en/develop/topics/releases/2017.7.1.html https://docs.saltstack.com/en/develop/topics/releases/2017.7.0.html

Security issues fixed :

  - CVE-2017-14695: A directory traversal during minion id     validation was fixed. (boo#1062462)

  - CVE-2017-14696: A remote denial of service attack with a     specially crafted authentication request was fixed.
    (boo#1062464)

  - CVE-2017-12791: crafted minion ID could lead directory     traversal on the Salt-master (boo#1053955)

Non security issues fixed :

  - Add possibility to generate _version.py at the build     time for raw builds:
    https://github.com/saltstack/salt/pull/43955

  - Fix salt target-type field returns 'String' for existing     jids but an empty 'Array' for non existing jids. (issue     #1711)

  - Fixed minion resource exhaustion when many functions are     being executed in parallel (boo#1059758)

  - Remove 'TasksTask' attribute from salt-master.service in     older versions of systemd (boo#985112)

  - Provide custom SUSE salt-master.service file.

  - Fix wrong version reported by Salt (boo#1061407)

  - list_pkgs: add parameter for returned attribute     selection (boo#1052264)

  - Adding the leftover for zypper and yum list_pkgs     functionality.

  - Use $HOME to get the user home directory instead using     '~' char (boo#1042749)

  - fix ownership for whole master cache directory     (boo#1035914)

  - fix setting the language on SUSE systems (boo#1038855)

  - wrong os_family grains on SUSE - fix unittests     (boo#1038855)

  - speed-up cherrypy by removing sleep call

  - Disable 3rd party runtime packages to be explicitly     recommended. (boo#1040886)

  - fix format error (boo#1043111)

  - Add a salt-minion watchdog for RHEL6 and SLES11 systems     (sysV) to restart salt-minion in case of crashes during     upgrade.

  - Add procps as dependency.

  - Bugfix: jobs scheduled to run at a future time stay     pending for Salt minions (boo#1036125)

  - Wrong os_family grains on SUSE - fix unittests.
    (boo#1038855)

  - Fix setting the language on SUSE systems. (boo#1038855)

  - Bugfix: unable to use hostname for minion ID as '127'.
    (upstream)

  - Bugfix: remove sleep call in CheppryPy API handler.
    (upstream)

  - Fix core grains constants for timezone. (boo#1032931)

  - Prevents zero length error on Python 2.6.

  - Fixes zypper test error after backporting.

  - Refactoring on Zypper and Yum execution and state     modules to allow installation of patches/errata.

  - Allows to set 'timeout' and 'gather_job_timeout' via     kwargs.

  - Add missing bootstrap script for Salt Cloud.
    (boo#1032452)

  - raet protocol is no longer supported. (boo#1020831)

  - Fix: add missing /var/cache/salt/cloud directory.
    (boo#1032213)

  - Cleanup salt user environment preparation. (boo#1027722)

  - Fix: race condition on cache directory creation.

  - Fix: /var/log/salt/minion fails logrotate. (boo#1030009)

  - Fix: Result of master_tops extension is mutually     overwritten. (boo#1030073)

  - Allows to set custom timeouts for 'manage.up' and     'manage.status'.

  - Keep fix for migrating salt home directory.
    (boo#1022562)

  - Fix salt-minion update on RHEL. (boo#1022841)

  - Prevents 'OSError' exception in case certain job cache     path doesn't exist. (boo#1023535)

This update for salt fixes one security issue and bugs. The following security issue has been fixed :

  - CVE-2017-12791: Directory traversal vulnerability in     minion id validation allowed remote minions with     incorrect credentials to authenticate to a master via a     crafted minion ID (bsc#1053955).

The update package also includes non-security fixes. See advisory for details.

Note that Tenable Network Security has extracted the preceding description block directly from the SUSE security advisory. Tenable has attempted to automatically clean and format it as much as possible without introducing additional issues.

This update for salt fixes the following issues :

  - Update to 2017.7.1 See     https://docs.saltstack.com/en/develop/topics/releases/20     17.7.1.html for full changelog

  - CVE-2017-12791: crafted minion ID could lead directory     traversal on the Salt-master (boo#1053955)



  - Run fdupes over all of /usr because it still warns about     duplicate files. Remove ancient suse_version > 1020     conditional.

  - Replace unnecessary %__ indirections. Use grep -q in     favor of >/dev/null.

  - Avoid bashisms in %pre.

  - Update to 2017.7.0 See     https://docs.saltstack.com/en/develop/topics/releases/20     17.7.0.html for full changelog

  - fix ownership for whole master cache directory     (boo#1035914)

  - fix setting the language on SUSE systems (boo#1038855)

  - wrong os_family grains on SUSE - fix unittests     (boo#1038855)

  - speed-up cherrypy by removing sleep call

  - Disable 3rd party runtime packages to be explicitly     recommended. (boo#1040886)

  - fix format error (boo#1043111)

  - Add a salt-minion watchdog for RHEL6 and SLES11 systems     (sysV) to restart salt-minion in case of crashes during     upgrade.

  - Add procps as dependency.

  - Bugfix: jobs scheduled to run at a future time stay     pending for Salt minions (boo#1036125)

SaltStack reports :

Correct a flaw in minion id validation which could allow certain minions to authenticate to a master despite not having the correct credentials. To exploit the vulnerability, an attacker must create a salt-minion with an ID containing characters that will cause a directory traversal. Credit for discovering the security flaw goes to:
Vernhk@qq.com

ID	Name	Product	Family	Severity
183538	Ubuntu 16.04 ESM : Salt vulnerabilities (USN-4769-1)	Nessus	Ubuntu Local Security Checks	critical
121806	Photon OS 1.0: Salt PHSA-2018-1.0-0106	Nessus	PhotonOS Local Security Checks	critical
109293	openSUSE Security Update : salt (openSUSE-2018-388)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	critical
104087	openSUSE Security Update : salt (openSUSE-2017-1183)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	critical
103767	SUSE SLES11 Security Update : salt (SUSE-SU-2017:2666-1)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	critical
103154	openSUSE Security Update : salt (openSUSE-2017-1016)	Nessus	SuSE Local Security Checks	critical
102689	FreeBSD : salt -- Maliciously crafted minion IDs can cause unwanted directory traversals on the Salt-master (3531141d-a708-477c-954a-2a0549e49ca9)	Nessus	FreeBSD Local Security Checks	critical

Detections

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CVE-2017-12791

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