CVE-2016-20012
Published: 15 September 2021
Summary
CVE-2016-20012 is a medium-severity Observable Discrepancy (CWE-203) vulnerability in Openbsd Openssh. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).
Operationally, ranked in the top 7.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2016-3100
Vulnerability details
OpenSSH through 8.7 allows remote attackers, who have a suspicion that a certain combination of username and public key is known to an SSH server, to test whether this suspicion is correct. This occurs because a challenge is sent only…
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when that combination could be valid for a login session. NOTE: the vendor does not recognize user enumeration as a vulnerability for this product
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Misdirection can normalize or falsify responses to eliminate observable discrepancies that aid reconnaissance.
Observable discrepancies in system behavior can be modulated to create covert storage or timing channels; the required analysis detects and constrains such avenues.
Prevents attackers from using observable differences in error responses to infer internal system details or state.