CVE-2023-22490 Git vulnerable to local clone-based data exfiltration with non-local transports

What is CVE-2023-22490?

CVE-2023-22490 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in git, published on 14 Feb 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

Git is a revision control system. Using a specially-crafted repository, Git prior to versions 2.39.2, 2.38.4, 2.37.6, 2.36.5, 2.35.7, 2.34.7, 2.33.7, 2.32.6, 2.31.7, and 2.30.8 can be tricked into using its local clone optimization even when using a non-local transport. Though Git will abort local clones whose source `$GIT_DIR/objects` directory contains symbolic links, the `objects` directory itself may still be a symbolic link. These two may be combined to include arbitrary files based on known paths on the victim's filesystem within the malicious repository's working copy, allowing for data exfiltration in a similar manner as CVE-2022-39253.

A fix has been prepared and will appear in v2.39.2 v2.38.4 v2.37.6 v2.36.5 v2.35.7 v2.34.7 v2.33.7 v2.32.6, v2.31.7 and v2.30.8. If upgrading is impractical, two short-term workarounds are available. Avoid cloning repositories from untrusted sources with `--recurse-submodules`. Instead, consider cloning repositories without recursively cloning their submodules, and instead run `git submodule update` at each layer. Before doing so, inspect each new `.gitmodules` file to ensure that it does not contain suspicious module URLs.

Weakness: CWE-59

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-22490?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Git-Scm Git.

How do I fix CVE-2023-22490?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.

Is CVE-2023-22490 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-22490 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code: 1 proofs of concept on GitHub.

Other vulnerabilities in git

• CVE-2022-23521 gitattributes parsing integer overflow in git Critical 9.8
• CVE-2022-41903 Integer overflow in `git archive`, `git log --format` leading to RCE in git Critical 9.8
• CVE-2019-1353 Security feature bypass in Git Critical 9.8
• CVE-2016-2315 Memory corruption in n/a Critical 9.8
• CVE-2016-2324 Integer overflow in n/a Critical 9.8

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• How this page is made

Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2023-22490, CLEANSTART-2026-YR55229, DEBIAN-CVE-2023-22490, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-22490, USN-5871-2.