CVE-2023-38408
criticalThe 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 forward…
Vendor / product: Openbsd — openssh
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.
CVSS
9.8
9.8 (CVSS v3.1)
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Severity source: NVD CVSS v3.1 (nvd@nist.gov)
Timeline (UTC)
Published: 2023-07-20 03:15
Modified: 2026-10-15 00:16
NVD status: Modified
Last synced 1 day ago
Verified against the source API 2026-10-27 07:06 UTC
Exploitation
Not listed in CISA KEV (as of last catalog sync)
Absence from KEV does not mean a CVE is not exploited. Exploitation status: unknown (no authoritative evidence in our sources).
Affected products
openbsd / openssh <9.3, 9.3
fedoraproject / fedora 37, 38
Weakness classification (CWE)
Source: NVD / CISA. “NVD-CWE-Other” and “NVD-CWE-noinfo” mean NVD could not assign a specific weakness.
Mitigation & advisories
Vendor advisory: https://www.openssh.com/security.html
Vendor advisory: https://www.openssh.com/security.html
Patch / mitigation: https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/7bc29a9d5cd697290aa056e94ecee6253d3425f8
Patch / mitigation: https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/f03a4faa55c4ce0818324701dadbf91988d7351d
Patch / mitigation: https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/f8f5a6b003981bb824329dc987d101977beda7ca
Patch / mitigation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36790196
Patch / mitigation: https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/7bc29a9d5cd697290aa056e94ecee6253d3425f8
Patch / mitigation: https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/f03a4faa55c4ce0818324701dadbf91988d7351d
Patch / mitigation: https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/f8f5a6b003981bb824329dc987d101977beda7ca
Patch / mitigation: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36790196
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/173661/OpenSSH-Forwarded-SSH-Agent-Remote-Code-Execut... cve@mitre.org
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/07/20/1 cve@mitre.org
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/07/20/2 cve@mitre.org
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/09/22/11 cve@mitre.org
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/09/22/9 cve@mitre.org
- https://blog.qualys.com/vulnerabilities-threat-research/2023/07/19/cve-2023-38408-remote-c... cve@mitre.org
- https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/7bc29a9d5cd697290aa056e94ecee6253d3425f8 cve@mitre.org
- https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/f03a4faa55c4ce0818324701dadbf91988d7351d cve@mitre.org
- https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/f8f5a6b003981bb824329dc987d101977beda7ca cve@mitre.org
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/08/msg00021.html cve@mitre.org
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/m... cve@mitre.org
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/m... cve@mitre.org
- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36790196 cve@mitre.org
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202307-01 cve@mitre.org
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20230803-0010/ cve@mitre.org
- https://support.apple.com/kb/HT213940 cve@mitre.org
- https://www.openssh.com/security.html cve@mitre.org
- https://www.openssh.com/txt/release-9.3p2 cve@mitre.org
- https://www.qualys.com/2023/07/19/cve-2023-38408/rce-openssh-forwarded-ssh-agent.txt cve@mitre.org
- https://www.vicarius.io/vsociety/posts/exploring-opensshs-agent-forwarding-rce-cve-2023-38... cve@mitre.org
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/173661/OpenSSH-Forwarded-SSH-Agent-Remote-Code-Execut... af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/07/20/1 af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/07/20/2 af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/09/22/11 af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/09/22/9 af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
Data sources
NVD CVE API 2.0 — fetched 2026-10-27 07:06 UTC · record ↗