Repository Analysis

openssh/openssh-portable

Portable OpenSSH

2.5 Likely human-written View on GitHub

Analysis Overview

This report presents the forensic synthetic code analysis of openssh/openssh-portable, a C project with 3,900 GitHub stars. SynthScan v2.0 examined 212,699 lines of code across 565 source files, recording 459 pattern matches distributed across 6 syntactic categories. The overall adjusted score of 2.5 places this repository in the Likely human-written band.

The scanner applied 160+ deterministic lexical heuristics, multi-line block detectors, abstract syntax tree depth profilers, and a cross-file Jaccard similarity matrix to construct a statistically normalised synthetic code estimate. All matches are individually weighted by severity coefficient and contextual multiplier before summation, and the resulting headline score is temporally discounted to account for the repository's development history relative to the commercial emergence of large language model coding tooling (November 2022 onward).

2.5
Adjusted Score
2.5
Raw Score
100%
Time Factor
2026-07-12
Last Push
3.9K
Stars
C
Language
212.7K
Lines of Code
565
Files
459
Pattern Hits
2026-07-14
Scan Date
0.02
HC Hit Rate

What These Metrics Mean

Adjusted Score
Primary synthetic code indicator. Raw score normalised per 1,000 lines of code and multiplied by the temporal discount factor. This is the definitive comparative metric — use it to rank repositories by AI authorship density.
Raw Score
The unmodified sum of all severity-weighted, context-multiplied pattern match scores before temporal discounting. Reflects the absolute signal strength independent of when the repository was last active.
Time Factor
The temporal discount multiplier (0–100%) applied to the raw score. Repositories last updated before ChatGPT's launch (Nov 2022) receive a 5% factor. Full signal is only assigned to repositories active in the post-adoption era (Jan 2024+).
Pattern Hits
Total count of individual pattern matches across all files and categories. A high hit count with a low score may indicate a very large codebase with isolated AI snippets; a low count with a high score indicates dense, concentrated AI signatures.
HC Hit Rate
High+Critical pattern hits per file, averaged across the repository. This orthogonal signal catches repositories where a few files are densely packed with high-severity AI tells — a strong indicator even when the normalised score appears moderate due to codebase size.
Lines of Code / Files
Total lines and files analysed. The scanner examines 94 file extensions. These denominators are used to normalise the score, enabling fair comparison between repositories of vastly different sizes.

Score History

This chart maps the temporal evolution of the adjusted synthetic code score across successive scan runs. An upward trajectory indicates ongoing incorporation of AI-generated code or expanding LLM-assisted scaffolding; a stable or declining trajectory may reflect active human refactoring, code removal, or the adoption of stricter authorship policies. The dashed secondary line (right axis) independently tracks total raw pattern hit count, which can diverge from the normalised score when codebase size changes significantly between scans.

Severity Breakdown

Classifies detected patterns by their diagnostic confidence and structural impact. CRITICAL patterns (coefficient 10) represent definitive synthetic signatures — hallucinated imports, explicit LLM attribution metadata — virtually never produced by human authors. HIGH (5) indicates strong structural tells such as cross-file repetition or cross-linguistic idioms. MEDIUM (2) covers recognisable conversational padding and AI-specific vocabulary. LOW (1) captures subtle indicators like tautological comments and generic boilerplate that require density to carry independent signal.

CRITICAL 0HIGH 10MEDIUM 12LOW 437

Directory Score Breakdown

This horizontal bar chart decomposes the repository's raw synthetic code score by top-level directory, allowing you to pinpoint precisely which modules or components carry the highest AI authorship density. Directories with disproportionately high scores relative to their size warrant targeted manual review: concentrated AI signatures often trace back to mass-generated configuration layers, auto-ported test suites, LLM-scaffolded boilerplate classes, or entire subsystems authored under heavy copilot assistance. Use this view to prioritise your human code-review effort.

Pattern Findings

The scanner identified 459 distinct pattern matches across 6 syntactic categories. Each entry below represents a discrete location in the source code where the engine recorded a statistically significant AI authorship indicator. Expand any category row to inspect the individual file paths, line numbers, code snippets, and the lexical context (CODE, COMMENT, or STRING) in which each match was detected.

Reading the findings table: The Severity column indicates the diagnostic confidence level (CRITICAL / HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW). The Context column identifies whether the match occurred inside executable code, an inline comment, or a string literal — comment-context matches receive a ×1.5 weight because LLMs systematically over-annotate. The ⚡ bolt icon marks clustered matches: three or more patterns within a 10-line window, each receiving an additional ×1.5 density multiplier as dense clusters constitute far stronger evidence of synthetic authorship than isolated hits.

Over-Commented Block436 hits · 416 pts
SeverityFileLineSnippetContext
LOWauth2-passwd.c21 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORTCOMMENT
LOWsandbox-rlimit.c21COMMENT
LOWssh-keyscan.c21#ifdef WITH_OPENSSLCOMMENT
LOWssh-keyscan.c41#include "digest.h"COMMENT
LOWauth2-hostbased.c21 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORTCOMMENT
LOWauth2-hostbased.c41#include "misc.h"COMMENT
LOWlog.c41#include <errno.h>COMMENT
LOWssh.c41 */COMMENT
LOWssh.c61#include <stdlib.h>COMMENT
LOWssh.c81#include "packet.h"COMMENT
LOWauth2-none.c21 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORTCOMMENT
LOWsshbuf-misc.c21#include <sys/socket.h>COMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c41COMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c61#include <asm/unistd.h>COMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c81COMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c241COMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c261#ifdef __NR_openatCOMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c281#endifCOMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c301#endifCOMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c321 SC_ALLOW(__NR_getpgid),COMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c341#ifdef __NR_madviseCOMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c361 SC_MMAP(__NR_mmap),COMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c381#ifdef __NR_clock_nanosleep_time64COMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c401#endifCOMMENT
LOWsandbox-seccomp-filter.c421 SC_ALLOW(__NR_time),COMMENT
LOWsshbuf.c21#include <signal.h>COMMENT
LOWmonitor.c21 * NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,COMMENT
LOWmonitor.c41#include <pwd.h>COMMENT
LOWmonitor.c61#include "hostfile.h"COMMENT
LOWmonitor.c81#include "monitor_wrap.h"COMMENT
LOWsession.c41#include <sys/stat.h>COMMENT
LOWsession.c61COMMENT
LOWsession.c81#include "misc.h"COMMENT
LOWkex.c21 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORTCOMMENT
LOWkex.c41COMMENT
LOWchannels.h41/* Definitions for channel types. */COMMENT
LOWchannels.h61#define SSH_CHANNEL_RDYNAMIC_FINISH 22 /* reverse SOCKS, finishing connect */COMMENT
LOWchannels.h221 time_t lastused;COMMENT
LOWchannels.h241#define CHAN_INPUT_WAIT_OCLOSE 2COMMENT
LOWssh-keysign.c21 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORTCOMMENT
LOWssh-keysign.c41#include <openssl/rsa.h>COMMENT
LOWssh-gss.h21 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORTCOMMENT
LOWssh-gss.h41# elif defined(HAVE_GSSAPI_GSSAPI_GENERIC_H)COMMENT
LOWmsg.c21 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORTCOMMENT
LOWnchan.c21 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORTCOMMENT
LOWsandbox-darwin.c21#include <sys/types.h>COMMENT
LOWkexgexs.c41#include "cipher.h"COMMENT
LOWmisc-agent.c21#include <sys/socket.h>COMMENT
LOWauth2-pubkeyfile.c21 * DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANYCOMMENT
LOWauth2-pubkeyfile.c41COMMENT
LOWssh-sk-helper.c21 * to ssh-pkcs11-helper.c but considerably simpler as the operations forCOMMENT
LOWssh-agent.c41#include <sys/queue.h>COMMENT
LOWssh-agent.c61#include <stdarg.h>COMMENT
LOWssh-agent.c81#include "sk-api.h"COMMENT
LOWauth.c21 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORTCOMMENT
LOWauth.c41#include <login.h>COMMENT
LOWauth.c61#include "sshkey.h"COMMENT
LOWreadconf.c21#include <sys/un.h>COMMENT
LOWreadconf.c41#include <util.h>COMMENT
LOWkexgen.c21 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORTCOMMENT
376 more matches not shown…
Synthetic Comment Markers10 hits · 75 pts
SeverityFileLineSnippetContext
HIGHlibcrux_internal.h619 * This code was generated with the following revisions:COMMENT
HIGHlibcrux_internal.h4003 * This code was generated with the following revisions:COMMENT
HIGHlibcrux_internal.h8546 * This code was generated with the following revisions:COMMENT
HIGHlibcrux_internal.h9020 * This code was generated with the following revisions:COMMENT
HIGHlibcrux_internal.h15746 * This code was generated with the following revisions:COMMENT
HIGHlibcrux_internal.h15873 * This code was generated with the following revisions:COMMENT
HIGHlibcrux_internal.h20517 * This code was generated with the following revisions:COMMENT
HIGHlibcrux_internal.h20690 * This code was generated with the following revisions:COMMENT
HIGHlibcrux_internal.h20878 * This code was generated with the following revisions:COMMENT
HIGHlibcrux_internal.h21051 * This code was generated with the following revisions:COMMENT
Self-Referential Comments10 hits · 30 pts
SeverityFileLineSnippetContext
MEDIUMregress/principals-command.sh20# Create a CA key and a user certificate.COMMENT
MEDIUMregress/cert-hostkey.sh55# Create a CA key and add it to known hosts. Ed25519 chosen for speed.COMMENT
MEDIUMregress/cert-hostkey.sh219# Create a CA key and add it to known hostsCOMMENT
MEDIUMregress/multipubkey.sh12# Create a CA keyCOMMENT
MEDIUMregress/cert-userkey.sh49# Create a CA keyCOMMENT
MEDIUMregress/limit-keytype.sh25# Create a CA keyCOMMENT
MEDIUMregress/cert-file.sh9# Create a CA keyCOMMENT
MEDIUMcontrib/findssl.sh10# This file is placed in the public domain.COMMENT
MEDIUMcontrib/aix/buildbff.sh6# This file is placed in the public domain and comes with absolutelyCOMMENT
MEDIUMcontrib/aix/inventory.sh6# This file is placed into the public domain.COMMENT
AI Slop Vocabulary1 hit · 3 pts
SeverityFileLineSnippetContext
MEDIUMregress/channel-timeout.sh6# XXX not comprehensive. Still need -R -L agent X11 forwarding + interactiveCOMMENT
Slop Phrases1 hit · 2 pts
SeverityFileLineSnippetContext
MEDIUMpkcs11.h25 for you (if useful, some are missing, let me know if you needCODE
Hyper-Verbose Identifiers1 hit · 1 pts
SeverityFileLineSnippetContext
LOWregress/unittests/sshsig/webauthn.html745function toggleNamespaceVisibility() {CODE