Skip to main content
Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2023-51385

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2023-12-18
  • WeaknessCWE-78

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

In ssh in OpenSSH before 9.6, OS command injection might occur if a user name or host name has shell metacharacters, and this name is referenced by an expansion token in certain situations. For example, an untrusted Git repository can have a submodule with shell metacharacters in a user name or host name.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2023-12-1819:15CVE publishedNVD
  2. 2026-10-2319:23First public proof of conceptPoC-in-GitHub
  3. 2026-10-2319:23EPSS crossed 10 %FIRST EPSS

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 21:37 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2023-51385?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2023-51385?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Debian debian linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
10.0= 10.0no fix published
11.0= 11.0no fix published
12.0= 12.0no fix published
OpenSSH
BranchAffectedFixed in
9.6< 9.69.6

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

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 8.7p1-34.el9_3.3and 4 other packages
  • opensshAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 8.0p1-19.el8_9.2and 6 other packages
  • pam_ssh_agent_authAlmaLinux:9all versions · fixed in 0.10.4-5.34.el9_3.3
  • pam_ssh_agent_authAlmaLinux:8all versions · fixed in 0.10.3-7.19.el8_9.2

Full record on NVD

Fix

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-10-23 19:23 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB

Sources

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
Published
2023-12-18
Last Modified
2026-10-15
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2023-51385?

In ssh in OpenSSH before 9.6, OS command injection might occur if a user name or host name has shell metacharacters, and this name is referenced by an expansion token in certain situations. For example, an untrusted Git repository can have a submodule with shell metacharacters in a user name or host name.

Is CVE-2023-51385 actively exploited?

A proof-of-concept exploit exists for CVE-2023-51385, but active exploitation has not been confirmed at this time.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2023-51385?

CVE-2023-51385 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N.

Running OpenSSH? Hear about its next vulnerability

Surveillance reads the versions in your stack — a domain, a lockfile or a list — checks each CVE against the ranges its sources publish, and alerts you when one you run is exploited or enters CISA KEV. A version it cannot read stays « version not verified ».

No credit card required · No monthly cap on website lookups · 250 API requests/month