CVE-2018-20685

MEDIUMNVD 5.35.3—Trending — 4 sources updated this week

5.3

In OpenSSH 7.9, scp.c in the scp client allows remote SSH servers to bypass intended access restrictions via the filename of . or an empty filename. The impact is modifying the permissions of the target directory on the client side.

CVSS v3: 5.3
EG Score: 5.3(medium)
EPSS: 87.6%
KEV: Not listed

Published

January 10, 2019

Last Modified

December 17, 2025

References (28)

cve@mitrehttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106531
cve@mitrehttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:3702
cve@mitrehttps://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-412672.pdf
cve@mitrehttps://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/usr.bin/ssh/scp.c.diff?r1=1.197&r2=1.198&f=h
cve@mitrehttps://github.com/openssh/openssh-portable/commit/6010c0303a422a9c5fa8860c061bf7105eb7f8b2
cve@mitrehttps://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/03/msg00030.html
cve@mitrehttps://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-16
cve@mitrehttps://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202007-53
cve@mitrehttps://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20190215-0001/
cve@mitrehttps://sintonen.fi/advisories/scp-client-multiple-vulnerabilities.txt
cve@mitrehttps://usn.ubuntu.com/3885-1/
cve@mitrehttps://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4387
cve@mitrehttps://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuapr2019-5072813.html
cve@mitrehttps://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2019-5072832.html
af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106531

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / Ecosystem	Fixed in / Patch	Released	Source
ubuntu	ssh-krb5 (1:7.2p2-4ubuntu2.7) @ xenial	2026-05-27	ubuntu
redhat	openssh-0:8.0p1-3.el8	2019-11-05	redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

CWE-863Incorrect Authorization

All Vendor Advisories

(2)

Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 11× in last 7d / 17× in last 30d)

Every time one of our enrichment pipelines (NVD, MITRE cvelistV5, EPSS, CISA KEV, GHSA, OSV, vendor advisories) ran against this CVE. Most recent first.

2026-06-02 20:11 UTCepss_batch
2026-06-02 20:11 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-31 22:29 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-31 00:14 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-31 00:14 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-29 13:41 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-28 13:42 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-28 13:42 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-27 23:28 UTCEG score recompute
2026-05-27 23:28 UTCVendor advisory
2026-05-27 23:28 UTCGHSA enrichment
2026-05-27 13:38 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-27 13:38 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-26 13:42 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-26 13:42 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-26 07:17 UTCepss_batch
2026-05-26 07:17 UTCepss_batch

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2018-20685?

CVE-2018-20685 is a medium vulnerability published on January 10, 2019. In OpenSSH 7.9, scp.c in the scp client allows remote SSH servers to bypass intended access restrictions via the filename of . or an empty filename. The impact is modifying the permissions of the target directory on the client side.

When was CVE-2018-20685 disclosed?

CVE-2018-20685 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on January 10, 2019, with the most recent update on December 17, 2025. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.

Is CVE-2018-20685 actively exploited?

CVE-2018-20685 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 87.6% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.

What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-20685?

CVE-2018-20685 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.3 (NVD).

How do I remediate CVE-2018-20685?

Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2018-20685, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

Dependency Blast Radius

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CVE-2018-20685

Published

Last Modified

References (28)

Patch Availability(2)

Weakness Classification(1)

All Vendor Advisories

Data Freshness Timeline

Frequently asked(5)

Dependency Blast Radius

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2018-20685?

Same vendor

Same CWE

CVE-2018-20685

📅 Published

🔄 Last Modified

🔗 References (28)

Patch Availability(2)

Weakness Classification(1)

All Vendor Advisories

Data Freshness Timeline

❓ Frequently asked(5)

Dependency Blast Radius

Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2018-20685?

🔗 Related CVEs(same vendor + same CWE)

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References (28)

Frequently asked(5)

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