Openssh
CVE-2016-1908
CRITICAL
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A07:2025 - Authentication Failures
ASVS 5.0
V6 - Authentication Authentication mechanism validation
MITRE ATT&CK
2 techniques across 2 tactics: Defense Evasion, Initial Access The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. EPSS exploitation probability: 2.37%. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could bypass authentication mechanisms to gain unauthorized access by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
The client in OpenSSH before 7.2 mishandles failed cookie generation for untrusted X11 forwarding and relies on the local X11 server for access-control decisions, which allows remote X11 clients to. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. This Improper Authentication vulnerability could allow attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms to gain unauthorized access.
RemediationAI
A vendor patch is available. Apply the latest security update as soon as possible. Implement multi-factor authentication, enforce strong password policies, use proven authentication frameworks.
Affects your stack
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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as Improper Authentication (CWE-287), which allows attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms to gain unauthorized access. The client in OpenSSH before 7.2 mishandles failed cookie generation for untrusted X11 forwarding and relies on the local X11 server for access-control decisions, which allows remote X11 clients to trigger a fallback and obtain trusted X11 forwarding privileges by leveraging configuration issues on this X11 server, as demonstrated by lack of the SECURITY extension on this X11 server. Affected products include: Openbsd Openssh, Debian Debian Linux, Oracle Linux, Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Redhat Enterprise Linux Eus. Version information: before 7.2.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionCVE.org
The client in OpenSSH before 7.2 mishandles failed cookie generation for untrusted X11 forwarding and relies on the local X11 server for access-control decisions, which allows remote X11 clients to trigger a fallback and obtain trusted X11 forwarding privileges by leveraging configuration issues on this X11 server, as demonstrated by lack of the SECURITY extension on this X11 server.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org
The PKCS#11 feature in ssh-agent in OpenSSH before 9.3p2 has an insufficiently trustworthy search path, leading to remot
OpenSSH server (sshd) 9.1 introduced a double-free vulnerability during options.kex_algorithms handling. Rated medium se
sshd in OpenSSH before 7.3, when SHA256 or SHA512 are used for user password hashing, uses BLOWFISH hashing on a static
The kbdint_next_device function in auth2-chall.c in sshd in OpenSSH through 6.9 does not properly restrict the processin
The auth_password function in auth-passwd.c in sshd in OpenSSH before 7.3 does not limit password lengths for password a
Remote code execution in OpenSSH's sshd server (regression of CVE-2006-5051) allows unauthenticated remote attackers to
An issue was discovered in OpenSSH 7.9. Rated medium severity (CVSS 5.9), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no
A vulnerability was found in OpenSSH when the VerifyHostKeyDNS option is enabled. Rated medium severity (CVSS 6.8), this
The SSH transport protocol with certain OpenSSH extensions, found in OpenSSH before 9.6 and other products, allows remot
The resend_bytes function in roaming_common.c in the client in OpenSSH 5.x, 6.x, and 7.x before 7.1p2 allows remote serv
Multiple CRLF injection vulnerabilities in session.c in sshd in OpenSSH before 7.2p2 allow remote authenticated users to
In OpenSSH 7.9, due to accepting and displaying arbitrary stderr output from the server, a malicious server (or Man-in-T
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
VulDB
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB