Cybersecurity Lessons Uncovered by OpenSSH Research: Insights into Cyber Defense Strategies in the Year 2025 Revealed byTwo Pwnie Awards
In the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity, the discoveries made by Qualys's Threat Research Unit (TRU) have once again proven to be of significant importance. At this year's Pwnie Awards, an annual event held at Black Hat and DEF CON, TRU was honoured for their groundbreaking work on OpenSSH.
The awards recognise achievements in the field, and this year, TRU took home two prestigious titles. They were awarded the Best RCE for their discovery of CVE-2024-6387, a pre-auth Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in the OpenSSH server's default configuration on glibc-based Linux. This was the first RCE of its kind in two decades. TRU was also recognised with the Epic Achievement award for their long-term engagement in OpenSSH security research.
The Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF) was the organisation responsible for the Pwnie Award 2021 in these categories.
TRU's work on OpenSSH didn't stop there. Over a multi-year period, they uncovered several vulnerabilities, including CVE-2025-26465, a machine-in-the-middle issue in the OpenSSH client when VerifyHostKeyDNS is enabled. This vulnerability, like CVE-2024-6387, affects millions of devices worldwide, from servers to IoT.
The rapid patches issued by OpenSSH maintainers following these discoveries demonstrate the importance of responsible disclosure. In practice, treating anything that is internet-facing and exploitable as something that doesn't survive the day is crucial in shortening the vulnerability lifecycle.
Qualys CEO Sumedh Thakar is proud of the TRU team's role in discovering critical vulnerabilities in widely used applications, such as OpenSSH. He emphasises that with exploits being weaponized in hours, automating detection and patching is no longer optional-it's a matter of survival.
Qualys's TruRisk, a service that helps security teams prioritise assets by real-world exploitability and exposure, applies these insights directly to vulnerability management. This approach, rooted in the same rigorous research and analysis that powered OpenSSH discoveries, leads to fewer stragglers at 30/90 days and a shortened vulnerability lifecycle.
Subscribing to Qualys's blog keeps users informed of the latest TRU posts, ensuring they stay ahead of evolving risks. With TruRisk, customers rank assets by risk-to-business, not CVE noise, providing premium research that helps security teams understand exploit impacts faster and defend more effectively.
In analyzing over 8.8 million anonymized vulnerability lifecycle events, it was found that in critical cases, half of the fixes are implemented within the first 24 hours. This underscores the importance of rapid response and proactive vulnerability management.
As we move forward, it's clear that the work of TRU will continue to play a vital role in securing the digital landscape. Their contributions to the field, as recognised by the Pwnie Awards, are a testament to their dedication and expertise.
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