HOME VULNERABILITIESCVE-2020-15778

HIGH

CVE-2020-15778

CWE-78Published: July 24, 2020· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

7.4

CVSS v3.1

Official Description

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."

Technical Analysis

CVE-2020-15778 requires adjacent network access, limiting remote exploitation but still posing risk in shared or local network environments.

Exploitation requires low privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.

A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 7.4.

CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown

Exploitability

Attack VectorAdjacent

Attack ComplexityLow

Privileges Req.Low

User InteractionRequired

ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityHigh

IntegrityHigh

AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Vendors & Products

broadcom1 product(s)

fabric operating system

netapp8 product(s)

a700s firmwarea700sactive iq unified managerhci management nodesolidfiresteelstore cloud integrated storagehci compute nodehci storage node

openbsd1 product(s)

openssh

Source: NVD CPE · 11 total CPE entries

Exploit & PoC Resources

NO KNOWN EXPLOITNo public exploit confirmed at this time

Offensive Security exploit database

GitHub PoC Search

Community PoC repositories

Rapid7 / Metasploit

Metasploit module search

Security advisories & exploits

Official NIST entry

CVE Program entry

External links open in a new tab. Always verify in a controlled environment before use.

Official Patches & Advisories

ADVISORYhttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:3166

ADVISORYhttps://github.com/cpandya2909/CVE-2020-15778/

ADVISORYhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25005567

ADVISORYhttps://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202212-06

ADVISORYhttps://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200731-0007/

ADVISORYhttps://www.openssh.com/security.html

ADVISORYhttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:3166

ADVISORYhttps://github.com/cpandya2909/CVE-2020-15778/

ADVISORYhttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25005567

ADVISORYhttps://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202212-06

ADVISORYhttps://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200731-0007/

ADVISORYhttps://www.openssh.com/security.html

All References (12)

→

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:3166Third Party Advisory

→

https://github.com/cpandya2909/CVE-2020-15778/Exploit · Third Party Advisory

→

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25005567Third Party Advisory

→

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202212-06Third Party Advisory

→

https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200731-0007/Third Party Advisory

→

https://www.openssh.com/security.htmlVendor Advisory

→

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2024:3166Third Party Advisory

→

https://github.com/cpandya2909/CVE-2020-15778/Exploit · Third Party Advisory

→

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25005567Third Party Advisory

→

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202212-06Third Party Advisory

→

https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200731-0007/Third Party Advisory

→

https://www.openssh.com/security.htmlVendor Advisory

Quick Facts

CVE IDCVE-2020-15778

CVSS Score7.4 / 10

SeverityHIGH

WeaknessCWE-78

CISA KEVNo

Affected3 vendor(s)

PublishedJul 24, 2020

Related CVEs (CWE-78)

Recommended Actions

→Apply vendor patches immediately
→Monitor CVE-2020-15778 in threat intel feeds
→Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts

Data sourced from NVD (NIST), CISA KEV, and EPSS (FIRST). Analysis generated by CTIWatch. CVE data is provided under the NVD usage policy.

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