Remote Code ExecutionMATLAB Online (MathWorks)Oct 20269 min read
Remote Code Execution in MATLAB Online AI Chat Playground via the `system()` Function
This writeup documents a Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability identified during independent bug bounty research against MathWorks' MATLAB Online AI Chat Playground. The in-browser playground is designed to execute user-supplied MATLAB code, but MATLAB's built-in `system()` function passed its argument directly to the underlying operating-system shell. By invoking `system()` with a shell command, an authenticated user could execute arbitrary OS-level commands on the backend host, break out of the intended MATLAB-only execution boundary, establish an interactive reverse shell, and read arbitrary files. The affected service runs on a shared, multi-tenant compute pool. The vulnerability was reported through the bug bounty program and publicly disclosed. This research highlights the importance of strict command isolation, egress filtering, and defense-in-depth for hosted code-execution environments.