Classroom 50 is a free and open-source tool for managing and grading programming assignments via GitHub. Prior to version 1.11.0, `gh teacher download` clones each student's assignment repository and then writes autograde artifacts (`result.json` and `results.json`) into the just-cloned working tree. The write followed symlinks, so a student who committed `result.json` or `results.json` as a **symlink** (materialized verbatim by `git clone`) could redirect the teacher's write to an arbitrary path — e.g. `~/.zshrc`, `~/.ssh/authorized_keys`, a cron file, or an in-clone `.git/hooks/*` file that git subsequently executes. The written bytes are attacker-controlled (the student's uploaded release asset for `result.json`; student-chosen submit-tag names for `results.json`). This is an arbitrary file write leading to code execution as the teacher, whose `gh` token carries `admin:org`, `repo`, and `workflow` across the entire classroom organization. Version 1.11.0 contains a patch. Some workarounds are available. Avoid running `gh teacher download` against untrusted student repositories, or run it inside a disposable sandbox / container with no access to sensitive host files or credentials. Inspect cloned trees for symlinked, hardlinked, or special (`result.json`/`results.json`) entries before allowing the artifact-refresh step to run.
CVSS Details
- CVSS 4.0 Base Score: 9.4 (CRITICAL)
- CVSS 4.0 Vector: (CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/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:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X)
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