CVE-2025-3509 | Pre-Receive Hook Remote Code Execution vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowing Privilege Escalation

A Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed attackers to execute arbitrary code by exploiting the pre-receive hook functionality, potentially leading to privilege escalation and system compromise. The vulnerability involves using dynamically allocated ports that become temporarily available, such as during a hot patch upgrade. This means the vulnerability is only exploitable during specific operational conditions, which limits the attack window. Exploitation required either site administrator permissions to enable and configure pre-receive hooks or a user with permissions to modify repositories containing pre-receive hooks where this functionality was already enabled. This vulnerability affected all versions of GitHub Enterprise Server prior to 3.18 and was fixed in versions 3.17.1, 3.16.4, 3.15.8, 3.14.13, 3.13.16. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.

Published: 2025-04-17 Last update: 2025-09-05 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2025-3509 is rated Moderate Risk (57.8/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.13%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2025-3509

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-05-27 2.24% 2.13% -0.11%
2 2026-05-26 2.26% 2.24% -0.03%
3 2026-02-11 — 2.26% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2025-3509

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.1 4.0 HIGH
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:H/UI:N/VC:L/VI:H/VA:L/SC:L/SI:H/SA:L/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:N/R:U/V:C/RE:M/U:Amber Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and stable.
Attack requirements (AT:P)
Additional preconditions must be present for exploitation.
Privileges required (PR:H)
High privileges are required.
User interaction (UI:N)
No user interaction is required.
Vulnerable system confidentiality impact (VC:L)
Limited confidentiality impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system integrity impact (VI:H)
High integrity impact on the vulnerable system.
Vulnerable system availability impact (VA:L)
Limited availability impact on the vulnerable system.
Subsequent system confidentiality impact (SC:L)
Limited confidentiality impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system integrity impact (SI:H)
High integrity impact on subsequent systems.
Subsequent system availability impact (SA:L)
Limited availability impact on subsequent systems.
Exploit maturity (threat) (E:X)
Not defined: no reliable threat intelligence; scoring assumes the worst case (equivalent to Attacked).
Confidentiality requirement (CR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Integrity requirement (IR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Availability requirement (AR:X)
Not defined: insufficient information; scoring treats this like High (worst case).
Modified attack vector (MAV:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Vector (AV).
Modified attack complexity (MAC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Complexity (AC).
Modified attack requirements (MAT:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Attack Requirements (AT).
Modified privileges required (MPR:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base Privileges Required (PR).
Modified user interaction (MUI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base User Interaction (UI).
Modified vulnerable system confidentiality impact (MVC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VC metric.
Modified vulnerable system integrity impact (MVI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VI metric.
Modified vulnerable system availability impact (MVA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base VA metric.
Modified subsequent system confidentiality impact (MSC:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SC metric.
Modified subsequent system integrity impact (MSI:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SI metric.
Modified subsequent system availability impact (MSA:X)
Not defined: scoring uses the Base SA metric.
Safety (supplemental) (S:X)
Not evaluated.
Automatable (supplemental) (AU:N)
No: attackers cannot reliably automate reconnaissance through exploitation for this issue.
Recovery (supplemental) (R:U)
User: manual user intervention is needed to recover services.
Value density (supplemental) (V:C)
Concentrated: a single exploit event controls rich resources (e.g., a central server).
Vulnerability response effort (supplemental) (RE:M)
Moderate effort (remote update, disable subsystem, simple upgrade with minor service impact).
Provider urgency (supplemental) (U:AMBER)
Amber: provider rates moderate urgency.
 — — [email protected]
7.2 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.2 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2025-3509

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2025-3509

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
github enterprise_server < 3.13.16 cpe:2.3:a:github:enterprise_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
github enterprise_server >= 3.14.0, < 3.14.13 cpe:2.3:a:github:enterprise_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
github enterprise_server >= 3.15.0, < 3.15.8 cpe:2.3:a:github:enterprise_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
github enterprise_server >= 3.16.0, < 3.16.4 cpe:2.3:a:github:enterprise_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
github enterprise_server >= 3.17.0, < 3.17.1 cpe:2.3:a:github:enterprise_server:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2025-3509

cvelogic Threat Intelligence