CVE-2020-15778

Exp

scp in OpenSSH through 8.3p1 allows command injection in the scp.c toremote function, as demonstrated by backtick characters in the destination argument. NOTE: the vendor reportedly has stated that they intentionally omit validation of "anomalous argument transfers" because that could "stand a great chance of breaking existing workflows."

Published: 2020-07-24 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2020-15778 is rated High Exploit Risk (73.1/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 13.00%, 96th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2020-15778

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-15778

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 2026-06-15 64.28% 13.00% -51.28%
2 2026-05-05 61.48% 64.28% +2.80%
3 2026-03-04 — 61.48% —

Full EPSS history (56 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-15778

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.4 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:A)
Attacker has to be nearby on the network—same office, same link, that vibe—not the whole wide internet.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.5 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P 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:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-15778

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-15778

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2020-15778: 1 source package rows (openssh); 22 state rows across 7 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 0, open 22. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-15778
debian unimportant CVE-2020-15778 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-2020-15778
gentoo high CVE-2020-15778: 1 GLSA(s) (202212-06), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/openssh); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-15778
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-15778
suse high CVE-2020-15778 severity important: SUSE including 8 source package names (openssh-8.0p1-24.el8, openssh-askpass-8.0p1-24.el8, …), 8 product×package rows across 1 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 8): Fixed 8. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2020-15778/
ubuntu low CVE-2020-15778 low priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (openssh, openssh-ssh1), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, focal, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 7, DNE 2, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-15778

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-15778

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
openbsd openssh < 8.3 cpe:2.3:a:openbsd:openssh:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openbsd openssh 8.3 cpe:2.3:a:openbsd:openssh:8.3:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
openbsd openssh 8.3 cpe:2.3:a:openbsd:openssh:8.3:p1:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp a700s_firmware — cpe:2.3:o:netapp: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 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:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
broadcom fabric_operating_system — cpe:2.3:o:broadcom:fabric_operating_system:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2020-15778

cvelogic Threat Intelligence