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Unrated severityNVD Advisory· Published Mar 24, 2008· Updated Apr 23, 2026

CVE-2008-1483

CVE-2008-1483

Description

OpenSSH X11 forwarding flaw lets local users hijack X connections by causing DISPLAY to point to an unbound IPv4 port.

AI Insight

LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.

OpenSSH X11 forwarding flaw lets local users hijack X connections by causing DISPLAY to point to an unbound IPv4 port.

Vulnerability

OpenSSH versions including 4.3p2 fail to properly handle X11 forwarding when the server is unable to bind to an IPv4 port but successfully binds to an IPv6 port. In such cases, sshd sets the DISPLAY environment variable to :10, which corresponds to an unbound IPv4 port (TCP 6010). This allows a local attacker to listen on that port and intercept X11 traffic. The issue is described in FreeBSD-SA-08:05.openssh [2].

Exploitation

A local attacker can listen on TCP port 6010 before or after the victim logs in with X11 forwarding enabled. When the victim launches an X application, it connects to the attacker's listener, enabling the attacker to capture the X11 authentication cookie and hijack the session. No special privileges beyond local access are required. The attacker must be on the same host as the victim.

Impact

Successful exploitation allows the attacker to intercept and potentially inject X11 traffic. This can lead to unauthorized access to the victim's X session, including reading keystrokes, capturing screenshots, or other actions under the victim's privileges.

Mitigation

The vulnerability is addressed in later OpenSSH releases and OS-specific patches. FreeBSD released patches for multiple versions (see [2]). Avaya recommends disabling X11 forwarding or applying Sun's workaround for Solaris [3]. Users should upgrade OpenSSH or disable X11 forwarding if not required.

References
  1. http://security.FreeBSD.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-08:05.openssh.asc
  2. ASA-2008-205 (SUN 237444)

AI Insight generated on May 24, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.

Affected products

28

Patches

0

No patches discovered yet.

Vulnerability mechanics

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References

54

News mentions

0

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