---
id: CVE-2023-34049
aliases:
  - GHSA-4277-m35q-7c9w
  - PYSEC-2026-1892
title: Salt preflight script could be attacker controlled
summary: Salt preflight script could be attacker controlled
severity: medium
cvss: 6.7
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
vendor: salt
product: salt
ecosystem: pip
affected:
  - salt < 3005.4
  - 'salt >= 3006.0rc1, < 3006.4'
patched:
  - salt 3005.4
  - salt 3006.4
published: '2024-11-14'
updated: '2026-07-07'
source: OSV
sourceUrl: 'https://osv.dev/vulnerability/GHSA-4277-m35q-7c9w'
references:
  - url: 'https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-34049'
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/saltstack/salt/commit/286d55eb5a6e6bf9428405bdf5632b419bdf8444
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/saltstack/salt/commit/7a14112f2a16ce70e3c3e1862c92e37af5f2c7a4
  - url: 'https://github.com/saltstack/salt'
  - url: 'https://saltproject.io/security-announcements/2023-10-27-advisory'
tags:
  - osv
  - pip
epss: 0.00187
epssPercentile: 0.08572
ingestedAt: '2026-07-08T18:25:45.221Z'
---

## Overview

The Salt-SSH pre-flight option copies the script to the target at a predictable path, which allows an attacker to force Salt-SSH to run their script. If an attacker has access to the target VM and knows the path to the pre-flight script before it runs they can ensure Salt-SSH runs their script with the privileges of the user running Salt-SSH. Do not make the copy path on the target predictable and ensure we check return codes of the scp command if the copy fails.

## Affected packages

- `salt < 3005.4`
- `salt >= 3006.0rc1, < 3006.4`

## Remediation

Upgrade to a patched release:

- `salt 3005.4`
- `salt 3006.4`