CVE-2023-32080
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedWings is the server control plane for Pterodactyl Panel. A vulnerability affecting versions prior to 1.7.5 and versions 1.11.0 prior to 1.11.6 impacts anyone running the affected versions of Wings. This vulnerability can be used to gain access to the host system running Wings if a user is able to modify an server's install script or the install script executes code supplied by the user (either through environment variables, or commands that execute commands based off of user data). This vulnerability has been resolved in version `v1.11.6` of Wings, and has been back-ported to the 1.7 release series in `v1.7.5`. Anyone running `v1.11.x` should upgrade to `v1.11.6` and anyone running `v1.7.x` should upgrade to `v1.7.5`. There are no workarounds aside from upgrading. Running Wings with a rootless container runtime may mitigate the severity of any attacks, however the majority of users are using container runtimes that run as root as per the Wings documentation. SELinux may prevent attackers from performing certain operations against the host system, however privileged containers have a lot of freedom even on systems with SELinux enabled. It should be noted that this was a known attack vector, for attackers to easily exploit this attack it would require compromising an administrator account on a Panel. However, certain eggs (the data structure that holds the install scripts that get passed to Wings) have an issue where they are unknowingly executing shell commands with escalated privileges provided by untrusted user data.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThis vulnerability in Wings (Pterodactyl Panel's server control plane) allows privilege escalation from the panel to the host system through malicious manipulation of server install scripts. Attackers with admin access to the panel can modify install scripts or exploit eggs that execute user-supplied code (via environment variables or user data) with elevated privileges, enabling arbitrary command execution on the underlying host.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data< 1.7.4>= 1.11.0, < 1.11.6CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Wings versionRun 'wings --version' in the terminal or check the wings binary at /usr/local/bin/wingsAffected if Version is below 1.7.4 or between 1.11.0 and 1.11.5 inclusive
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Confirm admin access existsReview user accounts in the Pterodactyl Panel that have administrator-level permissionsAffected if Any untrusted or external user has admin access to the panel
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Audit eggs for user-supplied executionInspect installed eggs and server startup scripts for commands that execute environment variables, user data, or custom input without sanitizationAffected if Any egg or startup configuration executes user-supplied code or environment variables
A system is affected if it runs a vulnerable Wings version and has untrusted users with admin panel access or eggs that execute user-controlled input.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
dbcve · scoped1.7.41.11.6
Upgrade Wings to v1.7.5 (for 1.7.x users) or v1.11.6 (for 1.11.x users). There are no effective workarounds; rootless container runtimes or SELinux may reduce but not eliminate the risk.
v1.7.5 for Wings 1.7.x branches; v1.11.6 for Wings 1.11.x branches
- Identify the currently installed Wings version by running `wings --version` or checking the systemd service logs
- If running Wings 1.7.x (version < 1.7.4), upgrade to version 1.7.5 by downloading the release from the Pterodactyl GitHub repository
- If running Wings 1.11.x (version >= 1.11.0 and < 1.11.6), upgrade to version 1.11.6 by downloading the release from the Pterodactyl GitHub repository
- Replace the existing Wings binary with the new version, ensuring correct file permissions (executable)
- Restart the Wings service using `systemctl restart wings` or the equivalent for your init system
- Verify the upgrade was successful by running `wings --version` and confirming it shows the fixed version
- Review the Panel's egg configurations to ensure no eggs are blindly executing user-supplied data in install scripts
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-32080 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-32080 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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