synced 11 MIN AGO
01 Record

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.

CriticalPUBLISHEDCNA: mitre
CNA base score9.8 CVSS v3.xCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
View raw JSON

02 Description

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.

03 Exploitation and scoring

Exploitation
Assessed, none found. CISA's assessment recorded neither public exploit code nor evidence of exploitation when it was made.
SSVC decision
  • ExploitationnoneCISA recorded no public exploit code and no evidence of exploitation.
  • AutomatableyesAn attacker can reliably automate reconnaissance through exploitation, so this scales.
  • Technical ImpacttotalSuccessful exploitation gives total control of the vulnerable component.
CISA publishes the decision points, not a final SSVC decision. The decision also depends on mission and well-being impact, which is a property of your deployment rather than of the vulnerability.
EPSS probability
79.70% probability of exploitation activity in the next 30 days.
EPSS percentile
Equal to or higher than the score of 99.5% of scored records. A rank, not a probability.
NVD base score
9.8 (CVSS v3.x), scored by the NVD independently of the CNA.
NVD CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD analysis status
Modified. NVD last modified this record on 2026-10-15.
Red Hat severity
Important. Red Hat's rating for its own products, not a CVSS rating.

Exploit-prediction scores from FIRST. Independent scoring and analysis status from the NVD. Vendor severity from Red Hat. Exploitation assessment and catalog membership from CISA.

04 Metadata

Published
2023-07-20 00:00Z3 YR AGO
Last updated
2026-10-14 23:35Z14 DAYS AGO
Reserved
2023-07-17
Assigning CNA
mitre
Record state
PUBLISHED
Severity
Critical (CVSS 9.8)
CNA CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weaknesses
  • CWE-428Unquoted Search Path or ElementBase
Data version
5.2
Document digest
26884fc28bd052cab93c208d03c1dc948b02eed24e780bd4ad1a0c44f5891b2e

05 Affected products

VendorProductVersionsPlatforms
fedoraprojectfedoraNot specified—
openbsdopensshNot specified—
redhatdevworkspaceNot specified—
redhatenterprise_linuxNot specified—
redhatrhel_ausNot specified—
redhatrhel_e4sNot specified—
redhatrhel_elsNot specified—
redhatrhel_eusNot specified—
redhatrhel_tusNot specified—

06 References

07 Fixed in

AlmaLinux 8

  • openssh
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-askpass
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-cavs
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-clients
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-keycat
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-ldap
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-server
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • pam_ssh_agent_auth
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 0.10.3-7.19.el8_8
    • Affected before 0.10.3-8.33.el8_10

Source: AlmaLinux, AlmaLinux OS. Copyright (c) 2023 AlmaLinux OS. Licensed under MIT License. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

AlmaLinux 9

  • openssh
    Fixed in 8.7p1-30.el9_2
  • openssh-askpass
    Fixed in 8.7p1-30.el9_2
  • openssh-clients
    Fixed in 8.7p1-30.el9_2
  • openssh-keycat
    Fixed in 8.7p1-30.el9_2
  • openssh-server
    Fixed in 8.7p1-30.el9_2
  • pam_ssh_agent_auth
    Fixed in 0.10.4-5.30.el9_2

Source: AlmaLinux, AlmaLinux OS. Copyright (c) 2023 AlmaLinux OS. Licensed under MIT License. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

CloudLinux 8

  • openssh
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-askpass
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-cavs
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-clients
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-keycat
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-ldap
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • openssh-server
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 8.0p1-19.el8_8
    • Affected before 8.0p1-33.el8_10
  • pam_ssh_agent_auth
    Fixed

    A version is affected if any line below covers it.

    • Affected before 0.10.3-7.19.el8_8
    • Affected before 0.10.3-8.33.el8_10

Derived from AlmaLinux 8. Partial coverage: only packages taken from AlmaLinux 8 are listed.

Source: CloudLinux errata, CloudLinux Inc. Derived from: AlmaLinux, AlmaLinux OS. Copyright (c) 2023 AlmaLinux OS. Licensed under MIT License. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

CloudLinux 9

  • openssh
    Fixed in 8.7p1-30.el9_2
  • openssh-askpass
    Fixed in 8.7p1-30.el9_2
  • openssh-clients
    Fixed in 8.7p1-30.el9_2
  • openssh-keycat
    Fixed in 8.7p1-30.el9_2
  • openssh-server
    Fixed in 8.7p1-30.el9_2
  • pam_ssh_agent_auth
    Fixed in 0.10.4-5.30.el9_2

Derived from AlmaLinux 9. Partial coverage: only packages taken from AlmaLinux 9 are listed.

Source: CloudLinux errata, CloudLinux Inc. Derived from: AlmaLinux, AlmaLinux OS. Copyright (c) 2023 AlmaLinux OS. Licensed under MIT License. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Debian 12

  • openssh
    Fixed in 1:9.2p1-2+deb12u1

Source: Debian Security Tracker, the Debian security team. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Debian 13

  • openssh
    Fixed in 1:9.3p2-1

Source: Debian Security Tracker, the Debian security team. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Debian 14

  • openssh
    Fixed in 1:9.3p2-1

Source: Debian Security Tracker, the Debian security team. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

  • openssh-ssh1
    No fix yet

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

  • openssh
    Fixed in 1:8.2p1-4ubuntu0.8
  • openssh-ssh1
    No fix yet

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

  • openssh
    Fixed in 1:8.9p1-3ubuntu0.3
  • openssh-ssh1
    No fix yet

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

  • openssh-ssh1
    No fix yet

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu 25.10

  • openssh-ssh1
    No fix yet

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

  • openssh-ssh1
    No fix yet

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu 26.10

  • openssh-ssh1
    No fix yet

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS

  • openssh
    Fixed in 1:6.6p1-2ubuntu2.13+esm1
    Available with Ubuntu Pro (Infra-only): https://ubuntu.com/pro

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS

  • openssh
    Fixed in 1:7.2p2-4ubuntu2.10+esm3
    Available with Ubuntu Pro (Infra-only): https://ubuntu.com/pro

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS

  • openssh
    Fixed in 1:7.6p1-4ubuntu0.7+esm1
    Available with Ubuntu Pro (Infra-only): https://ubuntu.com/pro

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 16.04 LTS

  • openssh
    Fixed in 1:7.2p2-4ubuntu2.fips.2.10.4
    Available with Ubuntu Pro: https://ubuntu.com/pro

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 18.04 LTS

  • openssh
    Fixed in 1:7.9p1-10~ubuntu18.04.fips.0.8
    Available with Ubuntu Pro: https://ubuntu.com/pro

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu Pro FIPS-updates 20.04 LTS

  • openssh
    Fixed in 1:8.2p1-4ubuntu0.fips.0.8
    Available with Ubuntu Pro: https://ubuntu.com/pro

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu Pro FIPS 16.04 LTS

  • openssh
    No fix yet

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu Pro FIPS 18.04 LTS

  • openssh
    No fix yet

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

Ubuntu Pro FIPS 20.04 LTS

  • openssh
    No fix yet

Source: Ubuntu, Canonical Ltd. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Received through OSV.dev. Reformatted by exploit.cc.

A release or ecosystem missing from this list has no record here. It may be unaffected or not covered by the source. Source notices and licences.