# CVE-2025-32955: Harden-Runner Evasion of 'disable-sudo' policy

> Attackers can bypass sudo restrictions in Harden-Runner by leveraging Docker group membership to gain root access on CI/CD runners.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 21 Apr 2025
- **Updated:** 22 Apr 2025
- **Also known as:** GHSA-mxr3-8whj-j74r

## What is CVE-2025-32955?

CVE-2025-32955 is a medium-severity vulnerability in step-security harden-runner, published on 21 Apr 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Harden-Runner is a CI/CD security agent that works like an EDR for GitHub Actions runners. Versions from 0.12.0 to before 2.12.0 are vulnerable to `disable-sudo` bypass. Harden-Runner includes a policy option `disable-sudo` to prevent the GitHub Actions runner user from using sudo. This is implemented by removing the runner user from the sudoers file. However, this control can be bypassed as the runner user, being part of the docker group, can interact with the Docker daemon to launch privileged containers or access the host filesystem. This allows the attacker to regain root access or restore the sudoers file, effectively bypassing the restriction. This issue has been patched in version 2.12.0.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), CWE-268 (Privilege Chaining)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-32955?

1 open source package ship an affected version, including step-security/harden-runner.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `step-security/harden-runner` | GitHub Actions | From 0.12.0 | 2.12.0 |

## How do I fix CVE-2025-32955?

Upgrade step-security/harden-runner to 2.12.0 or later.

## Is CVE-2025-32955 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-32955 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-32955 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-32955 is a medium-severity vulnerability in step-security harden-runner, published on 21 Apr 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-32955 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- step-security/harden-runner (GitHub Actions): affected from 0.12.0; fixed in 2.12.0

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-2025-32955/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-32955/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-32955
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-32955
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-32955

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-32955/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.