Hackers exploit SSHole OpenSSH flaw to breach Linux systems
Admiralty grading (A–F · 1–6)
Source reliability
- A Completely reliable
- B Usually reliable
- C Fairly reliable
- D Not usually reliable
- E Unreliable
- F Cannot be judged
Information credibility
- 1 Confirmed
- 2 Probably true
- 3 Possibly true
- 4 Doubtful
- 5 Improbable
- 6 Cannot be judged
NATO Admiralty (AJP-2.1) grades confidence, independent of the risk score. Cross-source corroboration isn't tracked for non-CVE news, so single-source items are capped at a lower credibility number; a low number does not imply low quality.
Key metrics
- CVSS
- 8.1
- EPSS
- 1%
Key insight
The report confirms active exploitation of CVE-2026-123158, allowing attackers to log into Linux accounts with password authentication disabled, going beyond a pure patch reminder.
Description
CVE-2026-123158 affects OpenSSH and allows attackers to log into Linux accounts whose password authentication is disabled. According to the report, the flaw is already actively exploited to breach Linux systems. Systems running vulnerable OpenSSH versions are affected; the issue is tracked as CVE-2026-123158. The status is active exploitation in the wild, not just a theoretical PoC.
Risk score
- cvss base
- 81.00
- kev bonus
- 0.00
- epss bonus
- 0.00
- poc bonus
- 15.00
- raw before weight
- 96.00
- industry weight
- 1.10
- freshness factor
- 1.00
- exploitability factor
- 1.00
- days old
- 0.00
- vendor mismatch penalty
- 0.00
Path: operational
MITRE ATT&CK mapping
1 TTPProcedure details
| Technique | Tactic | Procedure | Conf. | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application | Initial Access | Hackers exploit the OpenSSH vulnerability CVE-2026-123158 to breach Linux systems by targeting the public-facing SSH service. | high | llm |