VYPR
High severityNVD Advisory· Published Feb 8, 2023· Updated Mar 10, 2025

Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following in github.com/pterodactyl/wings

CVE-2023-25152

Description

Wings is Pterodactyl's server control plane. Affected versions are subject to a vulnerability which can be used to create new files and directory structures on the host system that previously did not exist, potentially allowing attackers to change their resource allocations, promote their containers to privileged mode, or potentially add ssh authorized keys to allow the attacker access to a remote shell on the target machine. In order to use this exploit, an attacker must have an existing "server" allocated and controlled by the Wings Daemon. This vulnerability has been resolved in version v1.11.3 of the Wings Daemon, and has been back-ported to the 1.7 release series in v1.7.3. Anyone running v1.11.x should upgrade to v1.11.3 and anyone running v1.7.x should upgrade to v1.7.3. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

Workarounds

None at this time.

Affected packages

Versions sourced from the GitHub Security Advisory.

PackageAffected versionsPatched versions
github.com/pterodactyl/wingsGo
< 1.7.31.7.3
github.com/pterodactyl/wingsGo
>= 1.11.0, < 1.11.31.11.3

Affected products

1

Patches

1
dac9685298c3

server(filesystem): SafePath tweaks

https://github.com/pterodactyl/wingsMatthew PennerFeb 8, 2023via ghsa
3 files changed · +45 41
  • server/filesystem/filesystem.go+9 5 modified
    @@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ func (fs *Filesystem) Writefile(p string, r io.Reader) error {
     	// Adjust the disk usage to account for the old size and the new size of the file.
     	fs.addDisk(sz - currentSize)
     
    -	return fs.Chown(cleaned)
    +	return fs.unsafeChown(cleaned)
     }
     
     // Creates a new directory (name) at a specified path (p) for the server.
    @@ -223,7 +223,12 @@ func (fs *Filesystem) Chown(path string) error {
     	if err != nil {
     		return err
     	}
    +	return fs.unsafeChown(cleaned)
    +}
     
    +// unsafeChown chowns the given path, without checking if the path is safe. This should only be used
    +// when the path has already been checked.
    +func (fs *Filesystem) unsafeChown(path string) error {
     	if fs.isTest {
     		return nil
     	}
    @@ -232,19 +237,19 @@ func (fs *Filesystem) Chown(path string) error {
     	gid := config.Get().System.User.Gid
     
     	// Start by just chowning the initial path that we received.
    -	if err := os.Chown(cleaned, uid, gid); err != nil {
    +	if err := os.Chown(path, uid, gid); err != nil {
     		return errors.Wrap(err, "server/filesystem: chown: failed to chown path")
     	}
     
     	// If this is not a directory we can now return from the function, there is nothing
     	// left that we need to do.
    -	if st, err := os.Stat(cleaned); err != nil || !st.IsDir() {
    +	if st, err := os.Stat(path); err != nil || !st.IsDir() {
     		return nil
     	}
     
     	// If this was a directory, begin walking over its contents recursively and ensure that all
     	// of the subfiles and directories get their permissions updated as well.
    -	err = godirwalk.Walk(cleaned, &godirwalk.Options{
    +	err := godirwalk.Walk(path, &godirwalk.Options{
     		Unsorted: true,
     		Callback: func(p string, e *godirwalk.Dirent) error {
     			// Do not attempt to chown a symlink. Go's os.Chown function will affect the symlink
    @@ -261,7 +266,6 @@ func (fs *Filesystem) Chown(path string) error {
     			return os.Chown(p, uid, gid)
     		},
     	})
    -
     	return errors.Wrap(err, "server/filesystem: chown: failed to chown during walk function")
     }
     
    
  • server/filesystem/path.go+12 36 modified
    @@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package filesystem
     
     import (
     	"context"
    +	iofs "io/fs"
     	"os"
     	"path/filepath"
     	"strings"
    @@ -33,8 +34,6 @@ func (fs *Filesystem) IsIgnored(paths ...string) error {
     // This logic is actually copied over from the SFTP server code. Ideally that eventually
     // either gets ported into this application, or is able to make use of this package.
     func (fs *Filesystem) SafePath(p string) (string, error) {
    -	var nonExistentPathResolution string
    -
     	// Start with a cleaned up path before checking the more complex bits.
     	r := fs.unsafeFilePath(p)
     
    @@ -44,47 +43,24 @@ func (fs *Filesystem) SafePath(p string) (string, error) {
     	if err != nil && !os.IsNotExist(err) {
     		return "", errors.Wrap(err, "server/filesystem: failed to evaluate symlink")
     	} else if os.IsNotExist(err) {
    -		// The requested directory doesn't exist, so at this point we need to iterate up the
    -		// path chain until we hit a directory that _does_ exist and can be validated.
    -		parts := strings.Split(filepath.Dir(r), "/")
    -
    -		var try string
    -		// Range over all of the path parts and form directory pathings from the end
    -		// moving up until we have a valid resolution or we run out of paths to try.
    -		for k := range parts {
    -			try = strings.Join(parts[:(len(parts)-k)], "/")
    -
    -			if !fs.unsafeIsInDataDirectory(try) {
    -				break
    -			}
    -
    -			t, err := filepath.EvalSymlinks(try)
    -			if err == nil {
    -				nonExistentPathResolution = t
    -				break
    -			}
    -		}
    -	}
    -
    -	// If the new path doesn't start with their root directory there is clearly an escape
    -	// attempt going on, and we should NOT resolve this path for them.
    -	if nonExistentPathResolution != "" {
    -		if !fs.unsafeIsInDataDirectory(nonExistentPathResolution) {
    -			return "", NewBadPathResolution(p, nonExistentPathResolution)
    +		// The target of one of the symlinks (EvalSymlinks is recursive) does not exist.
    +		// So we get what target path does not exist and check if it's within the data
    +		// directory. If it is, we return the original path, otherwise we return an error.
    +		pErr, ok := err.(*iofs.PathError)
    +		if !ok {
    +			return "", errors.Wrap(err, "server/filesystem: failed to evaluate symlink")
     		}
    -
    -		// If the nonExistentPathResolution variable is not empty then the initial path requested
    -		// did not exist and we looped through the pathway until we found a match. At this point
    -		// we've confirmed the first matched pathway exists in the root server directory, so we
    -		// can go ahead and just return the path that was requested initially.
    -		return r, nil
    +		ep = pErr.Path
     	}
     
     	// If the requested directory from EvalSymlinks begins with the server root directory go
     	// ahead and return it. If not we'll return an error which will block any further action
     	// on the file.
     	if fs.unsafeIsInDataDirectory(ep) {
    -		return ep, nil
    +		// Returning the original path here instead of the resolved path ensures that
    +		// whatever the user is trying to do will work as expected. If we returned the
    +		// resolved path, the user would be unable to know that it is in fact a symlink.
    +		return r, nil
     	}
     
     	return "", NewBadPathResolution(p, r)
    
  • server/filesystem/path_test.go+24 0 modified
    @@ -115,6 +115,14 @@ func TestFilesystem_Blocks_Symlinks(t *testing.T) {
     		panic(err)
     	}
     
    +	if err := os.Symlink(filepath.Join(rfs.root, "malicious_does_not_exist.txt"), filepath.Join(rfs.root, "/server/symlinked_does_not_exist.txt")); err != nil {
    +		panic(err)
    +	}
    +
    +	if err := os.Symlink(filepath.Join(rfs.root, "/server/symlinked_does_not_exist.txt"), filepath.Join(rfs.root, "/server/symlinked_does_not_exist2.txt")); err != nil {
    +		panic(err)
    +	}
    +
     	if err := os.Symlink(filepath.Join(rfs.root, "/malicious_dir"), filepath.Join(rfs.root, "/server/external_dir")); err != nil {
     		panic(err)
     	}
    @@ -128,6 +136,22 @@ func TestFilesystem_Blocks_Symlinks(t *testing.T) {
     			g.Assert(IsErrorCode(err, ErrCodePathResolution)).IsTrue()
     		})
     
    +		g.It("cannot write to a non-existent file symlinked outside the root", func() {
    +			r := bytes.NewReader([]byte("testing what the fuck"))
    +
    +			err := fs.Writefile("symlinked_does_not_exist.txt", r)
    +			g.Assert(err).IsNotNil()
    +			g.Assert(IsErrorCode(err, ErrCodePathResolution)).IsTrue()
    +		})
    +
    +		g.It("cannot write to chained symlinks with target that does not exist outside the root", func() {
    +			r := bytes.NewReader([]byte("testing what the fuck"))
    +
    +			err := fs.Writefile("symlinked_does_not_exist2.txt", r)
    +			g.Assert(err).IsNotNil()
    +			g.Assert(IsErrorCode(err, ErrCodePathResolution)).IsTrue()
    +		})
    +
     		g.It("cannot write a file to a directory symlinked outside the root", func() {
     			r := bytes.NewReader([]byte("testing"))
     
    

Vulnerability mechanics

Generated by null/stub on May 9, 2026. Inputs: CWE entries + fix-commit diffs from this CVE's patches. Citations validated against bundle.

References

6

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