CVE-2026-60002 — openssh-portable
HIGHCVE-2026-60002 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.7) Use After Free vulnerability. A fix is available — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-60002.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-60002 by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). Outside the shaded patch-first corner.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 385,386 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Counts from FIRST.org, log-scaled.
Description
ssh in OpenSSH before 10.4 can have a use-after-free when a server changes its host key during a key re-exchange. (This outcome occurs only on the client side.)
Affected Products
opensshopenbsdDetection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Identify every host running the affected component and compare the installed build against the fixed version below — for source-built or distro-packaged software the version string, not a lockfile, is the source of truth (`dpkg -l`, `rpm -q`, or the binary's own `--version`).
Fix
Upgrade the affected component to the fixed release for CVE-2026-60002, or apply your distribution's backported patch — distro builds are often patched at an older version number, so check your vendor's advisory rather than the upstream version alone.
Workarounds
Constrain what reaches the vulnerable code: limit the size and shape of untrusted input, isolate the affected component in a sandboxed or least-privileged process, and enable the platform's memory-safety mitigations (ASLR, stack protector, hardened allocator) so an out-of-bounds access is more likely to fail closed than to be exploitable.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This Important flaw in OpenSSH client could allow a malicious SSH server to execute arbitrary code on the connecting client due to a use-after-free vulnerability during host key re-exchange. While requiring a connection to a specially crafted server, the potential for high impact on client confidentiality and…
To mitigate this issue, OpenSSH clients should only connect to trusted SSH servers. Enforcing strict host key checking and carefully managing `known_hosts` files can help prevent connections to servers with unexpected or altered host keys, thereby reducing exposure to this client-side vulnerability.Source: Red Hat security advisory for CVE-2026-60002 (CC BY 4.0)
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | openssh-0:9.9p1-25.el10_2 | RHSA-2026:47757 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10.0 Extended Update Support | openssh-0:9.9p1-7.el10_0.4 | RHSA-2026:65900 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | openssh-0:9.9p1-9.el9_8 | RHSA-2026:47756 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.4 Update Services for SAP Solutions | openssh-0:8.7p1-38.el9_4.10 | RHSA-2026:76993 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.6 Extended Update Support | openssh-0:8.7p1-45.el9_6.4 | RHSA-2026:66410 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.19 | openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9:4.19.9.6.202609221245-0 | RHSA-2026:71440 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.20 | openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9:4.20.9.6.202609222234-0 | RHSA-2026:71442 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.21 | openshift/ose-rhel-coreos-9:4.21.9.6.202609230720-0 | RHSA-2026:71444 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-60002 in your dependencies?
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