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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2016-3176 Saltstack CVE debrief

CVE-2016-3176 is a Salt authentication flaw affecting deployments that use PAM external authentication. In the affected versions, an attacker could bypass the configured authentication service by sending an alternate service value with a command to LocalClient. The issue is rated Medium by NVD and is addressed by the Salt release updates referenced in the vendor notes.

Vendor
Saltstack
Product
CVE-2016-3176
CVSS
MEDIUM 5.6
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-01-31
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-01-31
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Salt administrators and operators running PAM external authentication, especially on versions earlier than 2015.5.10 or 2015.8.8. Security teams should pay particular attention where LocalClient access is exposed to untrusted users or automation paths.

Technical summary

According to the NVD description, Salt before 2015.5.10 and 2015.8.x before 2015.8.8 allows an authentication bypass when PAM external authentication is enabled. The weakness is classified as CWE-287 (Improper Authentication). NVD’s CVSS vector is CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L, indicating network reachability but with some conditions needed for successful abuse.

Defensive priority

Medium. The flaw affects authentication trust boundaries, so it should be treated as important in environments that expose Salt authentication workflows, even though the CVSS score is not critical.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Upgrade Salt to 2015.5.10 or later, or 2015.8.8 or later, using the vendor release notes referenced by NVD.
  • Confirm whether PAM external authentication is enabled anywhere in your Salt environment; prioritize affected systems first.
  • Review who can submit commands to LocalClient and restrict access to trusted administrators and automation only.
  • Audit authentication-related logs for unexpected service values or anomalous LocalClient command usage.
  • If upgrading is delayed, reduce exposure by tightening access controls around Salt services and administrative interfaces.

Evidence notes

This debrief is based only on the supplied NVD record, its published/modified dates, the NVD CVSS vector and CWE mapping, and the official Salt release-note links referenced by the record. The vendor reference URLs in the corpus are the only remediation sources used here. No exploit code, reproduction steps, or unsupported version claims were added beyond the provided affected-version ranges.

Official resources

Publicly disclosed on 2017-01-31, based on the supplied CVE published date. The NVD record was modified on 2026-05-13; that later modification date is not the disclosure date.