An issue was discovered in OpenSSH 7.9.

Summary

An issue was discovered in OpenSSH 7.9. Due to the scp implementation being derived from 1983 rcp, the server chooses which files/directories are sent to the client. However, the scp client only performs cursory validation of the object name returned (only directory traversal attacks are prevented). A malicious scp server (or Man-in-The-Middle attacker) can overwrite arbitrary files in the scp client target directory. If recursive operation (-r) is performed, the server can manipulate subdirectories as well (for example, to overwrite the .ssh/authorized_keys file).

Timeline

1. Jan 11, 2019Public exploit on Exploit-DB

   EDB-46516, EDB-46193

2. Jan 31, 2019, 12:00 AM UTCCVE published
3. Dec 18, 2025, 2:34 PM UTCCISA SSVC assessment

   Exploitation: poc · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial

4. Oct 14, 2026, 6:49 AM UTCRecord last updated
5. Oct 22, 2026EPSS reached 10%

   FIRST estimates at least a 10% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Affected versions

No affected packages have been listed by the sources.

References 25