The kex_input_kexinit function in kex.c in OpenSSH 6.x and 7.x through 7.3 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by sending many duplicate KEXINIT requests. NOTE: a third party reports that "OpenSSH upstream does not consider this as a security issue."
CVE-2016-8858
Score 7.5 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-14. NVD baseline CVSS 7.5; sources differ by 0.0.
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 7.5
- EG Score
- 7.5(medium)
- EPSS
- 98.0%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
December 9, 2016
Last Modified
May 29, 2026
References (26)
- cve@mitrehttp://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/usr.bin/ssh/kex.c.diff?r1=1.126&r2=1.127&f=h
- cve@mitrehttp://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/usr.bin/ssh/kex.c?rev=1.127&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup
- cve@mitrehttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/10/19/3
- cve@mitrehttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/10/20/1
- cve@mitrehttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93776
- cve@mitrehttp://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037057
- cve@mitrehttps://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1384860
- cve@mitrehttps://cert-portal.siemens.com/productcert/pdf/ssa-412672.pdf
- cve@mitrehttps://ftp.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/patches/6.0/common/013_ssh_kexinit.patch.sig
- cve@mitrehttps://github.com/openssh/openssh-portable/commit/ec165c392ca54317dbe3064a8c200de6531e89ad
- cve@mitrehttps://security.FreeBSD.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-16:33.openssh.asc
- cve@mitrehttps://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201612-18
- cve@mitrehttps://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180201-0001/
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/usr.bin/ssh/kex.c.diff?r1=1.126&r2=1.127&f=h
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/usr.bin/ssh/kex.c?rev=1.127&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup
Vendor Advisories for CVE-2016-8858(1)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
Weakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 10× in last 7d / 36× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
- 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-12 05:39 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 11:58 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-06 13:44 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-29 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-27 13:38 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-24 16:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-22 17:45 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-05-22 17:45 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-20 11:21 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 GitHub PoC). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- GitHub PoCdag-erling/kexkillFirst seen Nov 3, 2016
Proof of concept for CVE-2016-8858
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same CWE)
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-400 · CWE-399
- CVE-2011-3192NVD 0.0EG 9.0EPSS 100%NONE
- CVE-2010-0806NVD 8.8EG 9.0 KEVEPSS 100%HIGH
- CVE-2004-1464NVD 5.9EG 9.0 KEVEPSS 92%MEDIUM
- CVE-2007-20001EG 7.5HIGH
- CVE-2002-20001EG 7.5EPSS 98%HIGH
- CVE-2012-0785EG 7.5HIGH
- CVE-2011-3336EG 7.5EPSS 93%HIGH
- CVE-2008-7314EG 7.5HIGH
- CVE-2011-4082EG 7.5HIGH
- CVE-2004-2779EG 7.5HIGH
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2016-8858?
When was CVE-2016-8858 disclosed?
Is CVE-2016-8858 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-8858?
How do I remediate CVE-2016-8858?
Dependency Blast Radius
Explore the affected products and dependency analysis for CVE-2016-8858
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