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CRITICAL

CVE-2023-38408

CVSS v3

9.8

CRITICAL

EPSS Score

79.7 %

exploit probability, as of 2026-10-19

CISA KEV

No

known exploited

Exploitation

—

SSVC status

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Affected and fixed versions

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • opensshAlmaLinux:9all versions · fixed in 8.7p1-30.el9_2and 4 other packages
  • opensshAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 8.0p1-33.el8_10and 6 other packages
  • pam_ssh_agent_authAlmaLinux:9all versions · fixed in 0.10.4-5.30.el9_2
  • pam_ssh_agent_authAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 0.10.3-8.33.el8_10

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2023-38408 Red Hat Product Security1,304 products fixed

    openssh: Remote code execution in ssh-agent PKCS#11 support

  • ICSA-25-105-08 CISA2 known affected

    ABB M2M Gateway

    ABB M2M Gateway ARM600, firmware versions = 4.1.2 <= 5.0.3 · ABB M2M Gateway SW, software versions = 5.0.1 <= 5.0.3

  • ICSA-23-348-10 CISA5 known affected

    Siemens SIMATIC S7-1500

    SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP (6ES7518-4AX00-1AB0) · SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP (6ES7518-4AX00-1AC0) · SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518F-4 PN/DP MFP (6ES7518-4FX00-1AB0)

  • SSA-398330 Siemens ProductCERT5 known affected

    SSA-398330: Vulnerabilities in the additional GNU/Linux subsystem of the SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518(F)-4 PN/DP MFP >= V3.1.0 and < V3.1.5

    SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP (6ES7518-4AX00-1AB0) >= V3.1.0 < V3.1.5 · SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518-4 PN/DP MFP (6ES7518-4AX00-1AC0) >= V3.1.0 < V3.1.5 · SIMATIC S7-1500 CPU 1518F-4 PN/DP MFP (6ES7518-4FX00-1AB0) >= V3.1.0 < V3.1.5

  • RHSA-2023:4889 Red Hat Product Security9 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: DevWorkspace Operator 0.22 release

  • RHSA-2023:4428 Red Hat Product Security27 products fixed

    Red Hat Security Advisory: openssh security update

8 more advisories

Full record on NVD

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. (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.

Technical details

Published
2023-07-20

Frequently asked questions

What is 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.

Is CVE-2023-38408 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2023-38408 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 79.7% on 2026-10-19, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-38408?

CVE-2023-38408 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (CRITICAL severity).

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