CVE-2025-11578 Pre-Receive Hook Path Collision Vulnerability in GitHub Enterprise Server Allowing Privilege Escalation

High 7.5 Published 10 Nov 2025 Updated 2 Dec 2025

An authenticated Enterprise admin can escalate privileges to root SSH access by exploiting a symlink escape in pre-receive hooks.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: An administrator
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2025-11578?

CVE-2025-11578 is a high-severity vulnerability in Github Enterprise Server, published on 10 Nov 2025. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, with no action from the victim.

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.

Weakness: CWE-59

Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-11578?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Github Enterprise Server.

How do I fix CVE-2025-11578?

No fix has been published for CVE-2025-11578 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Is CVE-2025-11578 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-11578 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Github Enterprise Server vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-g39h-563w-fg8c.