CVE-2023-51385

Severity: medium (CVSS 6.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 19.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-12-18 · updated 2026-10-15
Weakness: CWE-78

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.

Affected products

Debian Linux: 10.0, 11.0, 12.0
OpenSSH: before 9.6 — fixed in 9.6

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: OpenSSH 9.6. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2024/Mar/21
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/12/26/4
https://github.com/openssh/openssh-portable/commit/7ef3787c84b6b524501211b11a26c742f829af1a
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/12/msg00017.html
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202312-17
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20240105-0005/
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT214084
https://vin01.github.io/piptagole/ssh/security/openssh/libssh/remote-code-execution/2023/12/20/openssh-proxycommand-libssh-rce.html
https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5586
https://www.openssh.com/txt/release-9.6
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/12/18/2
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2024/Mar/21

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