# CVE-2024-28189: Judge0 vulnerable to Sandbox Escape Patch Bypass via chown running on Symbolic Link

> Attackers can escape the sandbox by exploiting symlink handling in chown operations, leading to arbitrary file modification and potential code execution.

- **Severity:** Critical 10.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 18 Apr 2024
- **Updated:** 2 Aug 2024

## What is CVE-2024-28189?

CVE-2024-28189 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in judge0, published on 18 Apr 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Judge0 is an open-source online code execution system. The application uses the UNIX chown command on an untrusted file within the sandbox. An attacker can abuse this by creating a symbolic link (symlink) to a file outside the sandbox, allowing the attacker to run chown on arbitrary files outside of the sandbox. This vulnerability is not impactful on it's own, but it can be used to bypass the patch for CVE-2024-28185 and obtain a complete sandbox escape. This vulnerability is fixed in 1.13.1.

Weakness: CWE-61 (UNIX Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following), CWE-59 (Improper Link Resolution Before File Access)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-28189?


## How do I fix CVE-2024-28189?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-28189 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-28189 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-28189 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Judge0 sandbox escape (metasploit)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-28189 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-28189 is a critical path traversal vulnerability in judge0, published on 18 Apr 2024. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2024-28189 exists.

Affected product: judge0. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-28189/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-28189/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-28189
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-28189
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-28189

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-28189/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.