CVE-2026-48859SSH server timing side-channel in ssh_auth:check_password/3 allows unauthenticated username enumeration
- 6.3MediumCVSS base score
- 0.38%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 68% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
Observable Timing Discrepancy vulnerability in Erlang/OTP ssh (ssh_auth, ssh_options modules) allows unauthenticated remote username enumeration via timing side-channel in password authentication. When the SSH daemon is configured with the user_passwords or password option, ssh_auth:check_password/3 performs a PBKDF2-SHA256 computation with 600,000 iterations (~300ms) for valid usernames, but returns immediately (~0ms) for invalid usernames via the ssh_options:get_password_option/2 path. This timing difference is detectable in a single authentication attempt and allows an unauthenticated attacker to distinguish valid from invalid usernames. The user_passwords and password options are documented as intended for test purposes; the recommended alternative is pwdfun, which is not affected by this vulnerability. This vulnerability is associated with program files lib/ssh/src/ssh_auth.erl and lib/ssh/src/ssh_options.erl. This issue affects OTP from OTP 29.0 before OTP 29.0.2, corresponding to ssh from 6.0 before 6.0.1.
Timeline
ID reserved
By EEF
- 16 days later
· 16 days later
Published
- 5 months later
· 5 months later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEFCNA (assigner) | 4.0 | Medium6.3 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 4.0 | Medium6.3 | CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.38% · top 68% of all CVEs (12 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: yes · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.3.
Affected products
What to do
Workaround: * Use the pwdfun option instead of user_passwords for password authentication. The pwdfun callback gives full control over timing behavior and is not affected by this vulnerability. Implementations should take care to execute in approximately constant time regardless of username validity. * Restrict SSH port access to trusted networks only via firewall rules, reducing the set of potential attackers who can perform timing measurements.
References
References6
- https://github.com/erlang/otp/security/advisories/GHSA-3w6p-vwhf-wvp4 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryrelated
- EEF CNA record for CVE-2026-48859 (opens in a new tab)related
- OSV record EEF-CVE-2026-48859 (opens in a new tab)related
- Erlang/OTP version ordering (opens in a new tab)x_version-scheme
- Introducing commit 032d1bc in erlang/otp (opens in a new tab)related
- Fix commit c342092 in erlang/otp (opens in a new tab)patch
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2026-36054 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2026-48859)Record last updated .