Vulnerability in OpenBSD OpenSSH
CVE-2023-38408
The PKCS#11 feature in ssh-agent in OpenSSH before 9.3p2 has an insufficiently trustworthy search path, leading to remote code execution if an agent is forwarded to an attacker-controlled system. (Code in /usr/lib is not necessarily safe for loading into ssh-agent.) NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2016-10009.
Published · last modified .
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
EPSS exploit prediction
EPSS: 0.797 (99.6th percentile), scored .
High probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — patch promptly. 100th percentile — 99.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.
EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.797 · newest: 0.797 · change: 0.000
Affected products
- OpenBSD OpenSSH — versions 9.3
- Fedoraproject Fedora — versions 37, 38
Weakness classification (CWE)
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
- news.ycombinator.com/item (Patch, Issue Tracking)
- blog.qualys.com/vulnerabilities-threat-research/2023/07/19/cve-2023-38408-remot… (Third Party Advisory)
- www.qualys.com/2023/07/19/cve-2023-38408/rce-openssh-forwarded-ssh-agent.txt (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
- github.com/openbsd/src/commit/f8f5a6b003981bb824329dc987d101977beda7ca (Patch)
- github.com/openbsd/src/commit/7bc29a9d5cd697290aa056e94ecee6253d3425f8 (Patch)
- github.com/openbsd/src/commit/f03a4faa55c4ce0818324701dadbf91988d7351d (Patch)
- www.openssh.com/txt/release-9.3p2 (Release Notes)
- www.openssh.com/security.html (Vendor Advisory)
- security.gentoo.org/glsa/202307-01 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
- www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/07/20/1 (mailing-list, Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2023-38408?
- CVE-2023-38408 is a critical-severity vulnerability in OpenBSD OpenSSH, classified under Unquoted Search Path or Element. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2023-07-20.
- How severe is CVE-2023-38408?
- Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2023-38408 known to be exploited?
- 100 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.