highVulnerability

GHSA-p4h8-56qp-hpgv

## Impact A crafted `hostAlias` argument such as `-oProxyCommand=...` was passed to `ssh`/`scp` without an argument terminator. SSH interprets arguments starting with `-` as options regardless of position, so the option-injection caused SSH to execute the attacker-supplied `ProxyCommand` **locally** on the machine running the MCP server — before any network connection. This bypassed the documented protection of `# @password:` annotations and exposed local SSH keys, browser cookies, other MCP server credentials, and anything else readable by the server process. A second local-RCE vector existed on Windows: `spawn(..., { shell: true })` was used so that `ssh.exe`/`scp.exe` could be found via `PATH`. With `shell: true`, every argument is re-parsed by `cmd.exe`, so shell metacharacters (`&`, `|`, `^`, `>`, `"`, `;`, …) in `hostAlias`, `command`, `localPath` or `remotePath` would have been interpreted by `cmd.exe` and could have triggered arbitrary local command execution on Windows. The MCP server runs locally over STDIO, but the LLM driving it is not trusted: its tool arguments can be steered by **prompt injection** from any untrusted text the LLM ingests (web pages, e-mails, repository files, output of other MCP servers). The attack does not require a malicious user — only that the LLM ingests attacker-controlled text at any point during the session. ## Patches Fixed in **1.3.5**. - Add `--` argument terminator to all `ssh`/`scp` invocations. - Strict whitelist for `hostAlias` (rejects leading `-` and shell metacharacters). - Known-host check: every `hostAlias` must be defined in `~/.ssh/config` (including `Include` directives) or present in `~/.ssh/known_hosts`. - Resolve `ssh.exe`/`scp.exe` to absolute paths and use `shell: false` everywhere on Windows. ## Workarounds None. Upgrade to 1.3.5. ## Credit Reported by Pico (@piiiico) as part of an MCP server security audit.

Properties

ghsa_id
GHSA-p4h8-56qp-hpgv
summary
SSH/SCP option injection allowing local RCE in @aiondadotcom/mcp-ssh
severity
high
cve_id
GHSA-p4h8-56qp-hpgv
is_ghsa_only
true
ghsa_published
2026-04-14T00:04:10Z
source_url
https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-p4h8-56qp-hpgv
ghsa_updated
2026-04-14T00:04:10Z

Related Entities (5)

HAS_WEAKNESS (2)

[Weakness]Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')
[Weakness]Improper Neutralization of Argument Delimiters in a Command ('Argument Injection')

REPORTED_BY (1)

[Source]GitHub Advisory Database

VULNERABLE_TO (1)

[Software]npm/@aiondadotcom/mcp-ssh

AFFECTS (1)

[Software]npm/@aiondadotcom/mcp-ssh

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GHSA-p4h8-56qp-hpgv — Ninja Signal Threat Intelligence | Ninja Signal