Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2018-20685

medium Nessus Plugin ID 222159

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- In OpenSSH 7.9, scp.c in the scp client allows remote SSH servers to bypass intended access restrictions via the filename of . or an empty filename. The impact is modifying the permissions of the target directory on the client side. (CVE-2018-20685)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2018-20685

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-20685

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 222159

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2018_20685.nasl

Version: 1.4

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 3/4/2025

Updated: 9/14/2025

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3.6

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Low

Base Score: 2.6

Temporal Score: 1.9

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2018-20685

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.3

Temporal Score: 4.6

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:openssh-server-sysvinit, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:pam_ssh_agent_auth, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:openssh-ssh1, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:openssh-cavs, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:24.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:openssh-ldap, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:openssh-server, cpe:/o:centos:centos:7, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssh-server, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:22.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:openssh, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssh-keycat, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssh-server-sysvinit, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:openssh-keycat, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssh-clients, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:openssh-clients, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssh-ldap, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssh-cavs, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssh, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:openssh-askpass, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:20.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:pam_ssh_agent_auth, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:openssh-askpass

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 1/10/2019

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2018-20685