CVE-2025-53632 Chall-Manager's scenario decoding process does not check for zip slips
Unauthenticated attackers can exploit zip slip vulnerabilities in Chall-Manager to write files outside the intended directory, potentially leading to code execution.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2025-53632?
CVE-2025-53632 is a high-severity path traversal vulnerability in ctfer-io chall-manager, published on 10 Jul 2025. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
Chall-Manager is a platform-agnostic system able to start Challenges on Demand of a player. When decoding a scenario (i.e. a zip archive), the path of the file to write is not checked, potentially leading to zip slips. Exploitation does not require authentication nor authorization, so anyone can exploit it. It should nonetheless not be exploitable as it is highly recommended to bury Chall-Manager deep within the infrastructure due to its large capabilities, so no users could reach the system. Patch has been implemented by commit 47d188f and shipped in v0.1.4.
Weakness: CWE-22
Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-53632?
3 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/ctfer-io/chall-manager. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
github.com/ctfer-io/chall-manager Go | All versions | 0.1.4 |
github.com/ctfer-io/chall-manager Go | All versions | 0.1.4 |
github.com/ctfer-io/chall-manager Go | All versions | 0.1.4 |
Products include Ctfer-Io Chall-Manager.
How do I fix CVE-2025-53632?
Upgrade github.com/ctfer-io/chall-manager to 0.1.4 or later.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2025-53632 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-53632 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Public exploit code: 1 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Other vulnerabilities in ctfer-io chall-manager
- CVE-2025-53633 Chall-Manager's scenario decoding process does not check for zip bombs
- CVE-2025-53634 Chall-Manager's HTTP Gateway have no header check timeout leading to potential slow loris attacks
- CVE-2026-32768 Chall-Manager's invalid NetworkPolicy enables a malicious actor to pivot into another namespace
Sources
Also known as GHSA-3gv2-v3jx-r9fh, GO-2025-3808.