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.

Published: 2023-12-18 Last update: 2026-05-12 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-51385 is rated Moderate Risk (61.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 19.75%, 97th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +1.25% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2023-51385

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 18.50% 19.75% +1.25%
2 2026-06-12 17.23% 18.50% +1.26%
3 2026-05-12 — 17.23% —

Full EPSS history (60 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-51385

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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: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: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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 2.5 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/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: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: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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 2.5 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-51385

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-51385

GHSA-5mq4-x9g5-4vc4 · Severity: critical — In ssh in OpenSSH before 9.6, OS command injection might occur if a user name or host name has...

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-51385

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2023-51385: 1 source package rows (openssh); 46 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 7, open 39. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-51385
debian not yet assigned CVE-2023-51385 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (openssh), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-51385
gentoo high CVE-2023-51385: 1 GLSA(s) (202312-17), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/openssh); latest impact high. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-51385
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-51385
suse medium CVE-2023-51385 severity moderate: SUSE including 347 source package names (15.7.20.5.1:openssh-9.6p1-150600.6.6.1, 15.7.20.5.1:openssh-clients-9.6p1-150600.6.6.1, …), 1686 product×package rows across 348 product lines (Container suse/git, Container suse/hpc/warewulf4-x86_64/sle-hpc-node, … (348 product lines)): Fixed 1491, Known Affected 195. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-51385/
ubuntu medium CVE-2023-51385 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (openssh, openssh-ssh1), 24 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 11, ignored 10, DNE 2, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-51385

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-51385

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
openbsd openssh < 9.6 cpe:2.3:a:openbsd:openssh:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-51385

URL Tags
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2024/Mar/21
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/12/26/4 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/openssh/openssh-portable/commit/7ef3787c84b6b524501211b11a26c742f829af1a Patch
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/12/msg00017.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202312-17 Third Party Advisory
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 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2023/dsa-5586 Third Party Advisory
https://www.openssh.com/txt/release-9.6 Release Notes
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/12/18/2 Mailing List Release Notes
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/10/07/1
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2025/10/12/1
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-082556.html
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-769027.html
https://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/html/ssa-794697.html
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