---
id: CVE-2026-123158
title: >-
  sshd in OpenSSH before 10.6p2 on Linux, when musl libc is used without PAM,
  lacks a workaround for a password authentication bypass (related to
  misinterpretation of whether a string is intended to be a password hash)
summary: >-
  sshd in OpenSSH before 10.6p2 on Linux, when musl libc is used without PAM,
  lacks a workaround for a password authentication bypass (related to
  misinterpretation of whether a string is intended to be a password hash). For
  some configurat…
severity: high
cvss: 8.1
cvssVector: 'CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H'
cvssSource: cna
cwe:
  - CWE-394
vendor: OpenBSD
product: OpenSSH
affected:
  - OpenSSH < 10.6p2
ssvc:
  exploitation: poc
  automatable: 'no'
  technicalImpact: total
  timestamp: '2026-11-05T17:12:53.200399Z'
exploitAvailable: true
published: '2026-11-05'
updated: '2026-11-06'
sourceUpdated: '2026-11-06T04:56:35.243Z'
source: CVEORG
sourceUrl: 'https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2026-123158'
references:
  - url: 'https://www.openssh.org/releasenotes.html#10.6p2'
  - url: >-
      https://github.com/openssh/openssh-portable/commit/4353fdc43ef646c43a8dda7025cc1a898caf1482
  - url: 'https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50377976'
  - url: 'https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50378228'
  - url: 'https://marc.info/?l=openssh-unix-dev&m=179388064263131&w=2'
  - url: 'https://hachyderm.io/@damienmiller/117563026759098135'
  - url: 'https://github.com/predkambrij/sshhole-repro'
  - url: 'https://github.com/leonjza/sshhole-lab'
tags:
  - cve.org
  - exploit-available
exploits:
  github: 6
  githubRepos:
    - 'https://github.com/0xBlackash/CVE-2026-123158'
    - 'https://github.com/rothoma2/cve-2026-123158-sshole'
    - 'https://github.com/coboliqcom/cve-2026-123158-sshole-safe-rust'
  checkedAt: '2026-11-06T05:46:10.999Z'
ingestedAt: '2026-11-05T22:38:31.983Z'
---

## Overview

sshd in OpenSSH before 10.6p2 on Linux, when musl libc is used without PAM, lacks a workaround for a password authentication bypass (related to misinterpretation of whether a string is intended to be a password hash). For some configurations of accounts, any password between 256 and 1024 characters succeeds. An example of a platform using musl libc without PAM is Alpine Linux.

## Affected

- `OpenSSH < 10.6p2`

## Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.