step-security harden-runner up to 2.11.x sudo privilege chaining

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability was found in step-security harden-runner up to 2.11.x and classified as problematic. The affected element is an unknown function of the component sudo Handler. Executing a manipulation can lead to privilege chaining. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2025-32955. It is possible to launch the attack on the local host. There is not any exploit available. It is suggested to upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in step-security harden-runner up to 2.11.x and classified as problematic. This vulnerability affects an unknown code of the component sudo Handler. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privilege chaining vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-268. Two distinct privileges, roles, capabilities, or rights can be combined in a way that allows an entity to perform unsafe actions that would not be allowed without that combination. As an impact it is known to affect integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

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.

The advisory is available at github.com. This vulnerability was named CVE-2025-32955 since 04/14/2025. The exploitation appears to be easy. Local access is required to approach this attack. The exploitation needs additional levels of successful authentication. The technical details are unknown and an exploit is not available. This vulnerability is assigned to T1068 by the MITRE ATT&CK project.

Upgrading to version 2.12.0 eliminates this vulnerability. The upgrade is hosted for download at github.com. Applying the patch 0634a2670c59f64b4a01f0f96f84700a4088b9f0 is able to eliminate this problem. The bugfix is ready for download at github.com. The best possible mitigation is suggested to be upgrading to the latest version.

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Productinfo

Vendor

• step-security

Name

• harden-runner

Version

• 2.0
• 2.1
• 2.2
• 2.3
• 2.4
• 2.5
• 2.6
• 2.7
• 2.8
• 2.9
• 2.10
• 2.11

License

• open-source

Website

• Product: https://github.com/step-security/harden-runner/

CPE 2.3info

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CPE 2.2info

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