CVE-2025-11578

Nov. 10, 2025, 11:15 p.m.

7.5
High

Description

A privilege escalation vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed an authenticated Enterprise admin to gain root SSH access to the appliance by exploiting a symlink escape in pre-receive hook environments. By crafting a malicious repository and environment, an attacker could replace system binaries during hook cleanup and execute a payload that adds their own SSH key to the root user’s authorized keys—thereby granting themselves root SSH access to the server. To exploit this vulnerability, the attacker needed to have enterprise admin privileges. This vulnerability affected all versions of GitHub Enterprise Server prior to 3.19, and was fixed in versions 3.14.19, 3.15.14, 3.16.10, 3.17.7 and 3.18.1. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.

Product(s) Impacted

Vendor Product Versions
Github
  • Github Enterprise Server
  • <3.19, 3.14.19, 3.15.14, 3.16.10, 3.17.7, 3.18.1

Weaknesses

Common security weaknesses mapped to this vulnerability.

CWE-59
Improper Link Resolution Before File Access ('Link Following')
The product attempts to access a file based on the filename, but it does not properly prevent that filename from identifying a link or shortcut that resolves to an unintended resource.

*CPE(s)

Affected systems and software identified for this CVE.

Type Vendor Product Version Update Edition Language Software Edition Target Software Target Hardware Other Information
a github github_enterprise_server <3.19 / / / / / / /
a github github_enterprise_server 3.14.19 / / / / / / /
a github github_enterprise_server 3.15.14 / / / / / / /
a github github_enterprise_server 3.16.10 / / / / / / /
a github github_enterprise_server 3.17.7 / / / / / / /
a github github_enterprise_server 3.18.1 / / / / / / /

References

https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.14/admin/release-notes#3.14.19
https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.15/admin/release-notes#3.15.14
https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.16/admin/release-notes#3.16.10
https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.17/admin/release-notes#3.17.7
https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.18/admin/release-notes#3.18.1

Tags

CWE-59
product-cna@github.com
2025-11-10
CVE-2025-11578

CVSS Score

7.5 / 10

CVSS Data - 4.0

  • Attack Vector: NETWORK
  • Attack Complexity: HIGH
  • Attack Requirements: PRESENT
  • Privileges Required: HIGH
  • User Interaction: NONE
  • Scope:
  • Confidentiality Impact: HIGH
  • Integrity Impact: HIGH
  • Availability Impact: HIGH
  • Exploit Maturity: NOT_DEFINED

    • CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

    View Vector String

Timeline

Published: Nov. 10, 2025, 11:15 p.m.
Last Modified: Nov. 10, 2025, 11:15 p.m.

Status : Received

CVE has been recently published to the CVE List and has been received by the NVD.

More info

Source

product-cna@github.com

*Disclaimer: Some vulnerabilities do not have an associated CPE. To enhance the data, we use AI to infer CPEs based on CVE details. This is an automated process and might not always be accurate.