Vulnerability · Published Nov 10, 2025 · Assigned by GitHub_P
CVE-2025-11578Pre-Receive Hook Path Collision Vulnerability in GitHub Enterprise Server Allowing Privilege Escalation
High 7.5
In plain English
A high-severity security flaw in Enterprise Server from GitHub. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.7% (higher than 54% of all known vulnerabilities).
Official 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 3.14.20, 3.15.15, 3.16.11, 3.17.8, 3.18.2. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.
Affected products (as reported)
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub | Enterprise Server | 3.14 – through 3.14.193.15 – through 3.15.143.16 – through 3.16.103.17 – through 3.17.73.18 – through 3.18.1 |
Weakness: CWE-59 · Vector: 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
References
- https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.14/admin/release-notes#3.14.20
- https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.15/admin/release-notes#3.15.15
- https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.16/admin/release-notes#3.16.11
- https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.17/admin/release-notes#3.17.8
- https://docs.github.com/en/enterprise-server@3.18/admin/release-notes#3.18.2