// For flags

CVE-2016-10010

OpenSSH < 7.4 - 'UsePrivilegeSeparation Disabled' Forwarded Unix Domain Sockets Privilege Escalation

Severity Score

7.0
*CVSS v3

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

2
*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

-
*KEV

Decision

-
*SSVC
Descriptions

sshd in OpenSSH before 7.4, when privilege separation is not used, creates forwarded Unix-domain sockets as root, which might allow local users to gain privileges via unspecified vectors, related to serverloop.c.

sshd en OpenSSH en versiones anteriores a 7.4, cuando no se utiliza la separación de privilegios, crea Unix-domain sockets reenviados como root, lo que podría permitir a usuarios locales obtener privilegios a través de vectores no especificados, relacionado con serverloop.c.

The ssh-agent(1) agent supports loading a PKCS#11 module from outside a trusted whitelist. An attacker can request loading of a PKCS#11 module across forwarded agent-socket. When privilege separation is disabled, forwarded Unix domain sockets would be created by sshd(8) with the privileges of 'root' instead of the authenticated user. A remote attacker who have control of a forwarded agent-socket on a remote system and have the ability to write files on the system running ssh-agent(1) agent can run arbitrary code under the same user credential. Because the attacker must already have some control on both systems, it is relatively hard to exploit this vulnerability in a practical attack. When privilege separation is disabled (on FreeBSD, privilege separation is enabled by default and has to be explicitly disabled), an authenticated attacker can potentially gain root privileges on systems running OpenSSH server.

*Credits: N/A
CVSS Scores
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
High
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Medium
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete
* Common Vulnerability Scoring System
SSVC
  • Decision:-
Exploitation
-
Automatable
-
Tech. Impact
-
* Organization's Worst-case Scenario
Timeline
  • 2016-12-19 CVE Reserved
  • 2016-12-23 CVE Published
  • 2016-12-23 First Exploit
  • 2024-08-06 CVE Updated
  • 2025-07-04 EPSS Updated
  • ---------- Exploited in Wild
  • ---------- KEV Due Date
CWE
  • CWE-264: Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls
CAPEC
Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions
Vendor Product Version Other Status
Vendor Product Version Other Status <-- --> Vendor Product Version Other Status
Openbsd
Search vendor "Openbsd"
Openssh
Search vendor "Openbsd" for product "Openssh"
<= 7.3
Search vendor "Openbsd" for product "Openssh" and version " <= 7.3"
-
Affected