Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Salt could continue trusting a user after their PAM account was locked. A previously authorized user, including a salt-api user using PAM external auth, could still run Salt commands. Because Salt can control infrastructure, this creates high business risk where administrative Salt access is tied to lockable local accounts.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation where Salt manages production infrastructure or cloud systems. The issue can preserve administrative command capability after an account is locked, weakening offboarding and incident containment controls.
Technical view
CVE-2022-22967 is a CWE-863 authorization flaw in SaltStack Salt before 3002.9, 3003.5, and 3004.2. PAM authentication failed to reject locked accounts. The issue affects local shell accounts with active sessions and salt-api users authenticating via PAM eauth. CVSS 3.1 is 8.8 with low complexity and required privileges.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in environments running Salt before 3002.9, 3003.5, or 3004.2 with PAM-backed authentication, especially salt-api PAM eauth or active local shell sessions for Salt users.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or cited active exploitation. Abuse requires a previously authorized user whose account has been locked, but who can still reach a relevant Salt interface or active session.
Researcher notes
Evidence is limited to the CVE record and advisories in the bundle. The flaw is authorization-state handling around PAM locked accounts, not unauthenticated access. Do not assume exploit tooling or internet-wide exploitation from these sources.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Salt to 3002.9, 3003.5, 3004.2, or a later supported release.
- Use vendor package guidance from Salt Project or Gentoo for the applicable branch.
- Review salt-api PAM eauth usage and restrict access until upgraded.
- Ensure locked or departed user sessions are terminated after account lockout.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Salt master, minion, and salt-api versions against the fixed release thresholds.
- Identify whether PAM eauth is enabled for salt-api users.
- Check for locked accounts that previously had Salt authorization.
- Confirm upgraded systems reject locked PAM accounts for Salt access.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-863: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2022-22967 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 8.8 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H2.85.9Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
8.8HighVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://repo.saltproject.io/CVE reference
- https://saltproject.io/security_announcements/salt-security-advisory-release-june-21st-2022/%2CCVE reference
- GLSA-202310-22CVE reference · vendor-advisory
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Incorrect Authorization
Incorrect Authorization represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.