CVE-2020-14145

The client side in OpenSSH 5.7 through 8.4 has an Observable Discrepancy leading to an information leak in the algorithm negotiation. This allows man-in-the-middle attackers to target initial connection attempts (where no host key for the server has been cached by the client). NOTE: some reports state that 8.5 and 8.6 are also affected.

Published: 2020-06-29 Last update: 2025-12-18 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-14145 is rated Moderate Risk (51.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.25%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-14145

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-27 1.56% 1.25% -0.31%
2 2026-04-02 1.25% 1.56% +0.31%
3 2026-03-04 — 1.25% —

Full EPSS history (48 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-14145

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 3.6 [email protected]
5.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-14145

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-14145

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2020-14145: 1 source package rows (openssh); 32 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 22. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-14145
debian unimportant CVE-2020-14145 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (openssh), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-14145
gentoo normal CVE-2020-14145: 1 GLSA(s) (202105-35), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/openssh); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-14145
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-14145
suse medium CVE-2020-14145 severity moderate: SUSE including 293 source package names (1.5.7.4.1.1512:openssh-8.1p1-5.9.1, 1.5.7.4.1.1512:openssh-fips-8.1p1-5.9.1, …), 403 product×package rows across 50 product lines (Container ses/7/cephcsi/cephcsi, Container ses/7/rook/ceph, … (50 product lines)): Known Affected 203, Fixed 174, Known Not Affected 26. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-14145/
ubuntu low CVE-2020-14145 low priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (openssh, openssh-ssh1), 26 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 16, not-affected 8, DNE 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-14145

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-14145

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
openbsd openssh >= 5.7, < 8.4 cpe:2.3:a:openbsd:openssh:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openbsd openssh 8.4 cpe:2.3:a:openbsd:openssh:8.4:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
openbsd openssh 8.5 cpe:2.3:a:openbsd:openssh:8.5:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
openbsd openssh 8.6 cpe:2.3:a:openbsd:openssh:8.6:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp aff_a700s_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp:aff_a700s_firmware:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp active_iq_unified_manager >= 9.5 cpe:2.3:a:netapp:active_iq_unified_manager:*:*:*:*:*:vmware_vsphere:*:*
netapp hci_management_node — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:hci_management_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp ontap_select_deploy_administration_utility — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:ontap_select_deploy_administration_utility:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp solidfire — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:solidfire:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp steelstore_cloud_integrated_storage — cpe:2.3:a:netapp:steelstore_cloud_integrated_storage:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp hci_compute_node — cpe:2.3:h:netapp:hci_compute_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp hci_storage_node — cpe:2.3:h:netapp:hci_storage_node:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-14145

URL Tags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/12/02/1 Mailing List Patch Third Party Advisory
https://anongit.mindrot.org/openssh.git/commit/?id=b3855ff053f5078ec3d3c653cdaedefaa5fc362d Patch Third Party Advisory
https://docs.ssh-mitm.at/CVE-2020-14145.html Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/openssh/openssh-portable/compare/V_8_3_P1...V_8_4_P1 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/ssh-mitm/ssh-mitm/blob/master/ssh_proxy_server/plugins/session/cve202014145.py Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202105-35 Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200709-0004/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.fzi.de/en/news/news/detail-en/artikel/fsa-2020-2-ausnutzung-eines-informationslecks-fuer-gezielte-mitm-angriffe-auf-ssh-clients/ Third Party Advisory
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