CVE-2023-38408

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2023-07-20. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
Elevated
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPatch this weekExploitation is likely or a public exploit exists.
  • 16,021 internet-exposed hosts are running an affected version right now
  • High exploitation likelihood — EPSS 80%
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 80%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: Elevated riskExposed: 16,021

A fix is available — apply it.

The PKCS#11 feature in ssh-agent in OpenSSH before 9.3p2 has an insufficiently trustworthy search path, leading to remote code execution if an agent is forwarded to an attacker-controlled system. (Code in /usr/lib is not necessarily safe for loading into ssh-agent.) NOTE: this issue exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2016-10009.

Live · internet exposure

16,021 internet-exposed hosts are running an affected version of CVE-2023-38408 right now.

across 99 countries (China, United States, Germany, France, Netherlands)top: openssh
See the live KEV-Exposure radar →Found passively from public internet-scan data — aggregate, host-redacted.

EchelonGraph is the only CVE feed that fuses live vulnerability intelligence with its own live internet-exposure radar — so you see not just that a CVE is exploited, but how much of the internet is exposed to it right now.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EG Risk
91(Track)
EG Risk 91/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation80% × 40%
Automatability100% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
80%
EPSS %ILE
100%
KEV
Not listed

Published

July 20, 2023

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

Advisory Details (10)

Auto-updated Sep 4, 2026
Patch available. Sources: github_commit.
generic Patch Available

[SECURITY] [DLA 3532-1] openssh security update

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2023/08/msg00021.html
github_commit

commit f8f5a6b00398 (openbsd/src)

Fix landed in openbsd/src commit f8f5a6b00398 — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/f8f5a6b003981bb824329dc987d101977beda7ca
github_commit

commit f03a4faa55c4 (openbsd/src)

Fix landed in openbsd/src commit f03a4faa55c4 — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/f03a4faa55c4ce0818324701dadbf91988d7351d
github_commit

commit 7bc29a9d5cd6 (openbsd/src)

Fix landed in openbsd/src commit 7bc29a9d5cd6 — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/openbsd/src/commit/7bc29a9d5cd697290aa056e94ecee6253d3425f8
generic

CVE-2023-38408 OpenSSH Exploit & Vulnerability Details | Qualys

https://blog.qualys.com/vulnerabilities-threat-research/2023/07/19/cve-2023-38408-remote-code-execution-in-opensshs-forwarded-ssh-agent
generic

oss-security - Re: illumos (or at least danmcd) membership in the distros list

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/09/22/9
generic

oss-security - Re: illumos (or at least danmcd) membership in the distros list

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/09/22/11
generic

oss-security - Re: Announce: OpenSSH 9.3p2 released

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/07/20/2
generic

oss-security - Re: CVE-2023-38408: Remote Code Execution in OpenSSH's forwarded ssh-agent

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2023/07/20/1
generic

Locked Out | Packet Storm

http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/173661/OpenSSH-Forwarded-SSH-Agent-Remote-Code-Execution.html

Patch Availability(12)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntuopenssh-sftp-server (1:8.2p1-4ubuntu0.8) @ focal2026-05-23ubuntu
ubuntuopenssh-sftp-server (1:7.2p2-4ubuntu2.10+esm3) @ xenial2026-05-23ubuntu
redhatdevworkspace/devworkspace-rhel8-operator:0.22-22023-08-30redhat
redhatopenssh-0:5.3p1-125.el6_102023-08-02redhat
redhatopenssh-0:7.4p1-23.el7_92023-08-01redhat
redhatopenssh-0:8.0p1-5.el8_22023-08-01redhat
redhatopenssh-0:8.0p1-15.el8_62023-08-01redhat
redhatopenssh-0:8.0p1-19.el8_82023-08-01redhat
redhatopenssh-0:8.7p1-30.el9_22023-08-01redhat
redhatopenssh-0:8.0p1-5.el8_1.12023-08-01redhat
redhatopenssh-0:8.0p1-7.el8_42023-08-01redhat
redhatopenssh-0:8.7p1-11.el9_02023-07-31redhat

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.

Affected Packages

(7 across 7 ecosystems)
Alpine:v3.16(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
openssh—9.0_p1-r4—
Alpine:v3.17(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
openssh—9.1_p1-r4—
Debian:10(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
openssh1:7.9p1-10, 1:7.9p1-10+deb10u1, 1:7.9p1-10+deb10u21:7.9p1-10+deb10u3—
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
openssh1:8.4p1-5, 1:8.4p1-5+deb11u11:8.4p1-5+deb11u2—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
openssh1:9.2p1-21:9.2p1-2+deb12u1—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
openssh—1:9.3p2-1—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
openssh—1:9.3p2-1—

Weakness Classification(1)

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

All Vendor Advisories

(13)

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 5× in last 7d / 17× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 106 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-07 15:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-05 15:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-04 05:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-09-02 14:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-09-01 09:29 UTCOSV refresh
  7. 2026-08-30 19:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-08-28 21:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-08-27 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-08-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-08-24 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-08-21 23:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-08-19 17:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-08-16 02:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-08-15 09:07 UTCOSV refresh
  16. 2026-08-13 21:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-08-12 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-08-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-08-05 19:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-08-05 19:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-08-04 15:07 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-07-30 20:51 UTCOSV refresh
  23. 2026-07-30 16:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-30 16:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-28 15:34 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-07-26 14:52 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-25 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-24 14:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-23 02:25 UTCEG score recompute
  5. 2026-07-22 23:11 UTCEG score recompute
  6. 2026-07-22 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-21 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-07-21 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-20 17:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-19 14:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-07-19 14:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-07-16 17:01 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-07-15 16:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-07-15 16:56 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-07-15 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-07-15 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-13 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-07-13 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-07-13 06:07 UTCOSV refresh
  20. 2026-07-12 05:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-07-11 08:26 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-07-11 08:25 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-07-08 15:13 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-07-05 02:29 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-07-01 15:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-30 23:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-30 23:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-06-28 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-06-28 14:06 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-06-28 04:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-06-28 04:55 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-06-27 03:07 UTCEPSS rescore
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  34. 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-06-25 13:48 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-06-24 18:01 UTCOSV refresh
  37. 2026-06-24 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-06-24 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
  39. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  40. 2026-06-23 21:31 UTCEPSS rescore
  41. 2026-06-21 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  42. 2026-06-21 01:58 UTCEPSS rescore
  43. 2026-06-17 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  44. 2026-06-17 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  45. 2026-06-16 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  46. 2026-06-16 17:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  47. 2026-06-15 17:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  48. 2026-06-14 23:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  49. 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  50. 2026-06-12 23:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  51. 2026-06-11 13:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-06-11 13:59 UTCEPSS rescore
  53. 2026-06-10 22:17 UTCEPSS rescore
  54. 2026-06-10 13:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  55. 2026-06-07 19:46 UTCOSV refresh
  56. 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  57. 2026-06-07 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  58. 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  59. 2026-06-06 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  60. 2026-06-05 22:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  61. 2026-06-05 22:46 UTCEPSS rescore
  62. 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  63. 2026-06-05 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  64. 2026-06-02 20:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  65. 2026-06-02 20:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  66. 2026-06-02 20:12 UTCEPSS rescore
  67. 2026-06-01 13:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  68. 2026-06-01 13:51 UTCEPSS rescore
  69. 2026-05-29 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  70. 2026-05-29 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  71. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  72. 2026-05-28 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  73. 2026-05-27 13:39 UTCEPSS rescore
  74. 2026-05-26 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
  75. 2026-05-26 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore

Publicly available exploits

(5 references)

Working exploit code is in the public domain (5 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.

  • GitHub PoCAdel2411/cve-2023-38408
    First seen Jul 16, 2025

    An in-depth analysis of CVE 2023 38408, a critical OpenSSH vulnerability, including technical background, exploitation in controlled environments, and mitigation strategies.

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCTX-One/CVE-2023-38408
    First seen Apr 19, 2025

    CVE-2023-38408 SSH Vulnerability Scanner & PoC

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCclassic130/CVE-2023-38408
    First seen Jan 7, 2024

    CVE-2023-38408 Remote Code Execution in OpenSSH's forwarded ssh-agent

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCLucasPDiniz/CVE-2023-38408
    First seen Nov 9, 2023

    Takeover Account OpenSSH

    Open source ↗
  • GitHub PoCkali-mx/CVE-2023-38408
    First seen Aug 9, 2023

    PoC for the recent critical vuln affecting OpenSSH versions < 9.3p2

    Open source ↗

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2023-38408?
CVE-2023-38408 is a critical vulnerability published on July 20, 2023. The PKCS#11 feature in ssh-agent in OpenSSH before 9.3p2 has an insufficiently trustworthy search path, leading to remote code execution if an agent is forwarded to an attacker-controlled system. (Code in /usr/lib is not necessarily safe for loading into ssh-agent.) NOTE: this issue exists because…
When was CVE-2023-38408 disclosed?
CVE-2023-38408 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on July 20, 2023, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2023-38408 actively exploited?
CVE-2023-38408 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 80% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 0.4% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-38408?
CVE-2023-38408 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2023-38408?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2023-38408, 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

See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2023-38408

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