# CVE-2003-1562: Race condition in n/a

> Remote attackers can exploit timing differences in OpenSSH to determine if a root password is correct, bypassing authentication delays.

- **Severity:** High 7.6 (`AV:N/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 4 Aug 2008
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2003-1562, GHSA-49wx-627v-6mcq

## What is CVE-2003-1562?

CVE-2003-1562 is a high-severity vulnerability in OpenSSH, published on 4 Aug 2008. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

sshd in OpenSSH 3.6.1p2 and earlier, when PermitRootLogin is disabled and using PAM keyboard-interactive authentication, does not insert a delay after a root login attempt with the correct password, which makes it easier for remote attackers to use timing differences to determine if the password step of a multi-step authentication is successful, a different vulnerability than CVE-2003-0190.

Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2003-1562?

It affects 1 product.


Products: OpenSSH.

## How do I fix CVE-2003-1562?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2003-1562 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2003-1562 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in OpenSSH

- [CVE-2003-0786](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0786/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2003-0693](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-0693/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2002-0640](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-0640/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2001-0144](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2001-0144/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2000-0999](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2000-0999/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2003-1562 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2003-1562 is a high-severity vulnerability in OpenSSH, published on 4 Aug 2008. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2003-1562 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: OpenSSH. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-1562/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-1562/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2003-1562
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2003-1562
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2003-1562

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2003-1562/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.