CVE-2020-12062
HighCVSS 7.5Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
High risk82th percentile - higher than 82% of all known CVEs
Summary
The scp client in OpenSSH 8.2 incorrectly sends duplicate responses to the server upon a utimes system call failure, which allows a malicious unprivileged user on the remote server to overwrite arbitrary files in the client's download directory by creating a crafted subdirectory anywhere on the remote server.
Risk Assessment
This can lead to overwriting files on the victim's machine.
Recommendation
Update OpenSSH to a patched version.
Other vulnerabilities in OpenSSH
See all- CVE-2016-6515High
The auth_password function in sshd in OpenSSH before version 7.3 does not limit password lengths for authentication, allowing remote attackers to cause a denial of service via long strings.
- CVE-2015-8325High
The do_setup_env function in sshd in OpenSSH through 7.2p2, when the UseLogin feature is enabled and PAM is configured to read .pam_environment files in user home directories, allows local users to gain privileges by triggering a crafted environment for the /bin/login program.
- CVE-2015-5600High
The kbdint_next_device function in auth2-chall.c in sshd in OpenSSH through 6.9 does not properly restrict the processing of keyboard-interactive devices within a single connection. This allows remote attackers to conduct brute-force attacks or cause denial of service via a long and duplicative list in the ssh -oKbdInteractiveDevices option.
- CVE-2014-1692High
The hash_buffer function in schnorr.c in OpenSSH through 6.4, when Makefile.inc is modified to enable the J-PAKE protocol, does not initialize certain data structures. This may allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption) or have unspecified other impact via vectors that trigger an error condition.
- CVE-2026-110928Medium
A flaw was found in OpenSSH where the authorized_keys "restrict" keyword is not applied to tunnel forwarding. When PermitTunnel is enabled, a key restricted with "restrict" can still open a tunnel.
- CVE-2026-39832Critical
When adding a key to a remote agent, constraint extensions such as [email protected] were not serialized in the request. Destination restrictions were silently stripped when forwarding keys, allowing unrestricted use of the key on the remote host.
- CVE-2026-39831Critical
Vulnerability in the Verify() method for FIDO/U2F security keys ([email protected], [email protected]) – the User Presence flag was not checked. Signatures generated without physical touch were accepted, allowing unauthorized use of the key.
- CVE-2025-26466Medium
A flaw in the OpenSSH package causes each received ping packet to allocate a pong packet in memory, stored in a queue until key exchange completes. A malicious client can send such packets continuously, leading to uncontrolled memory consumption on the server.
- CVE-2025-26465Medium
A vulnerability was found in OpenSSH when the VerifyHostKeyDNS option is enabled. A machine-in-the-middle attack can be performed by a malicious machine impersonating a legit server. This issue occurs due to how OpenSSH mishandles error codes in specific conditions when verifying the host key.
- CVE-2023-51385Medium
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.
Original NVD description (English source)
The scp client in OpenSSH 8.2 incorrectly sends duplicate responses to the server upon a utimes system call failure, which allows a malicious unprivileged user on the remote server to overwrite arbitrary files in the client's download directory by creating a crafted subdirectory anywhere on the remote server. The victim must use the command scp -rp to download a file hierarchy containing, anywhere inside, this crafted subdirectory. NOTE: the vendor points out that "this attack can achieve no more than a hostile peer is already able to achieve within the scp protocol" and "utimes does not fail under normal circumstances.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS

