# CVE-2023-20897: Salt vulnerable to denial of service

Source: https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2023-20897-salt-vulnerable-to-denial-of-service  
Publisher: Junglewise Threat Intelligence, https://junglewise.ai/threats  
Published: 2023-09-05  
License: CC BY 4.0 with a link back

CVE-2023-20897 · Severity: low · CVSS 3.1 · Published 2023-09-05

Salt masters prior to 3005.2 or 3006.2 contain a DOS in minion return. After receiving several bad packets on the request server equal to the number of worker threads, the master will become unresponsive to return requests until restarted.

Technologies: [salt (PyPI)](https://junglewise.ai/threats/technologies/pypi-salt). Vendors: [PyPI](https://junglewise.ai/threats/vendors/pypi).

## Quick answers

**Is CVE-2023-20897 exploited in the wild?** No. Junglewise Threat Intelligence has no report of CVE-2023-20897 being exploited in the wild.

**How severe is CVE-2023-20897?** Low severity, with a CVSS score of 3.1, published 5 September 2023.

**Which products and versions are affected?** salt (PyPI) ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,fixed=3005.2, ECOSYSTEM:introduced=3006.0,fixed=3006.2,introduced=0,fixed=3005.2.

**Is there a fix for CVE-2023-20897?** Yes. salt (PyPI): upgrade to 3005.2 or later. Junglewise finds every place you run it, drafts the upgrade and applies it once you approve.

**Am I affected by CVE-2023-20897?** Check whether you run salt (PyPI) at an affected version. Junglewise does that check for you around the clock: connect your code, cloud and domains, and it matches new vulnerabilities like this one against what you actually run and tells you when one reaches you.

## How to fix

- salt (PyPI): upgrade to 3005.2 or later

  ```sh
  pip install "salt>=3005.2"
  ```


## Affected products

- salt (PyPI) ECOSYSTEM:introduced=0,fixed=3005.2, ECOSYSTEM:introduced=3006.0,fixed=3006.2,introduced=0,fixed=3005.2

## Identifiers

- CVE-2023-20897
- GHSA-vpjg-wmf8-29h9
- PYSEC-2023-166

## Related threats

- [PYSEC-2026-1894 - Salt junos Module Vulnerable to Code Injection via Specially Crafted YAML Payload](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-62348-salt-junos-module-vulnerable-to-code-injection-via-specially)
- [PYSEC-2026-1902 - Salt Authentication Protocol Version Downgrade Allows Minion Impersonation](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-62349-salt-authentication-protocol-version-downgrade-allows-minion)
- [PYSEC-2026-1896 - Salt's worker process vulnerable to denial of service through file read operation](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-22242-salt-s-worker-process-vulnerable-to-denial-of-service-through)
- [PYSEC-2026-1895 - Salt's file contents overwrite the VirtKey class](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-22241-salt-s-file-contents-overwrite-the-virtkey-class)
- [PYSEC-2026-1898 - Salt's on demand pillar functionality vulnerable to arbitrary command injections](https://junglewise.ai/threats/cve-2025-22237-salt-s-on-demand-pillar-functionality-vulnerable-to-arbitrary)