CVE-2023-20897Known exploitationNetwork attack vector

Unauthenticated service interruption via uncaught decoding errors

Published Sep 5, 2023 · Updated Feb 13, 2025

Denial of service in Salt masters before 3005.2 or 3006.0rc1 through 3006.1 allows remote attackers to halt minion return processing. The ZeroMQ request server lets SaltDeserializationError escape from handle_message when msgpack rejects incomplete or extra-data packets, consuming worker capacity. No credentials or keys are required; packets matching the worker-thread count leave return requests unresponsive until the master restarts.

CVSS severity5.3
Medium
EPSS probability1.24%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationReported
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in Salt masters before 3005.2 or 3006.0rc1 through 3006.1 allows remote attackers to halt minion return processing. The ZeroMQ request server lets SaltDeserializationError escape from handle_message when msgpack rejects incomplete or extra-data packets, consuming worker capacity. No credentials or keys are required; packets matching the worker-thread count leave return requests unresponsive until the master restarts.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-20897
Published
Sep 5, 2023
Updated
Feb 13, 2025
Vendor
Salt Project
Product
Salt
Classifications
CWE-404, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 5, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 13, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=Salt masters prior to 3005.2 or 3006.2

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Salt Project · Saltversion=Salt masters prior to 3005.2 or 3006.2

Published CVSS scores

5.3GitHub Advisory DatabaseCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
5.3Salt ProjectCVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationReported
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-404Improper Resource Shutdown or Release
T1499.004Endpoint Denial of Service: Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Reported exploitation

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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