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Musl libc allows long passwords to bypass root lock in OpenSSH

Original title: sshhole

Lobsters · securityby sshhole.com via serce ()5 min read1
Part of a story covered by 20 sourcesAttackers exploit OpenSSH SSHole bypass on musl Linux systemsMerged summary & timeline
AI summary · x-ai/grok-4.7Summaries by Vani AI

Passwords longer than 256 bytes accepted on musl-based SSHD despite * lock in shadow.

The bug in musl libc since 2012 causes crypt() to return * for failed hashes including long passwords. OpenSSH 2016 handling of invalid users combined with this accepts any password on locked accounts. Alpine Docker images and other musl setups were affected until fixes in OpenSSH and Alpine 3.16.

Unconfirmed: Whether the bug was actively exploited before disclosure is unknown

Key facts
  • Crypt() returns * for passwords over 256 bytes on musl
  • Root accounts with * in shadow can be bypassed
  • Affects Alpine Linux and Docker images
  • Fixed in OpenSSH with salt reuse for invalid users
Security assessment · AI, from the articleNo known exploitation

Impact: bypassing locked account authentication

What to do
  1. 1.Test SSH logins on musl systems
  2. 2.Upgrade to patched OpenSSH
  3. 3.Check for * in shadow
Analyze CVE-2016-6210 with Vani AIImpact, affected versions, exploitation, mitigations and detection

Vulnerabilities mentioned

All
CVEVulnerabilityCVSSEPSSSignalsPublished
CVE-2016-6210
sshd in OpenSSH before 7.3, when SHA256 or SHA512 are used for user password hashing, uses BLOWFISH hashing on a static password when the username does not…
5.989%

From the original article

5 min read at sshhole.com

so openssh on musl linux (alpine, openwrt, buildroot, yocto, and a lot of the docker images you've pulled) has had a little problem since 2016. accounts that should never take a password at all (root, your key-only deploy user, ldap users, the default user on alpine's aws and azure images) take any password longer than 256 characters.

Lobsters · security

By sshhole.com via serce · sshhole.com

Read the full article at Lobsters · security

A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.