Executive brief
OpenSSH is a widely used tool for secure remote access to servers. A vulnerability in the server component (sshd) allows attackers to bypass the standard waiting period between login attempts. This could potentially assist in automated password-guessing attacks by allowing them to occur faster than intended.
Technical details
A vulnerability exists in OpenSSH's sshd component where the minimum authentication delay is not consistently enforced across all authentication paths. This flaw, classified under CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling), allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to perform authentication attempts more rapidly than the configured security policy should allow. While it does not directly grant access, it undermines rate-limiting protections designed to mitigate brute-force or dictionary attacks. The issue is resolved in OpenSSH version 10.4.
Affected products
- OpenBSD OpenSSH before 10.4
Timeline
- 2026-07-06: patched: OpenSSH 10.4 released with fix.
- 2026-07-08: disclosed: CVE-2026-60001 published.