OpenSSH SSHd SIGALRM Race Enables Remote RCE
CVE-2024-6409 Published on July 8, 2024

Openssh: possible remote code execution due to a race condition in signal handling affecting red hat enterprise linux 9
A race condition vulnerability was discovered in how signals are handled by OpenSSH's server (sshd). If a remote attacker does not authenticate within a set time period, then sshd's SIGALRM handler is called asynchronously. However, this signal handler calls various functions that are not async-signal-safe, for example, syslog(). As a consequence of a successful attack, in the worst case scenario, an attacker may be able to perform a remote code execution (RCE) as an unprivileged user running the sshd server.

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Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2024-6409 can be exploited with network access, and does not require authorization privileges or user interaction. This vulnerability is consided to have a high level of attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to have a small impact on confidentiality and integrity, and a high impact on availability.

Attack Vector:
NETWORK
Attack Complexity:
HIGH
Privileges Required:
NONE
User Interaction:
NONE
Scope:
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact:
LOW
Integrity Impact:
LOW
Availability Impact:
HIGH

Timeline

Reported to Red Hat.

Made public. 7 days later.

Weakness Type

Signal Handler Race Condition

The software uses a signal handler that introduces a race condition.


Products Associated with CVE-2024-6409

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Exploit Probability

EPSS
76.40%
Percentile
98.91%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.