# CVE-2025-27613: Gitk can create and truncate files in the user's home directory

> Gitk allows attackers to create or truncate files in the user's home directory via a malicious repository clone, requiring specific preference settings or UI interactions.

- **Severity:** Low 3.6 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 10 Jul 2025
- **Updated:** 4 Nov 2025
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2025-27613, AZL-65073, AZL-65076, BELL-CVE-2025-27613, CLSA-2025-1754346021, CLSA-2025-1754381382, CLSA-2025-1754940262, CLSA-2025-1754940505, CLSA-2025-1754941109, CLSA-2025-1756929133, DEBIAN-CVE-2025-27613, ECHO-b1d0-a192-7995, GHSA-f3cw-xrj3-wr2v, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-12-CVE-2025-27613

## What is CVE-2025-27613?

CVE-2025-27613 is a low-severity path traversal vulnerability in j6t gitk, published on 10 Jul 2025. 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

Gitk is a Tcl/Tk based Git history browser. Starting with 1.7.0, when a user clones an untrusted repository and runs gitk without additional command arguments, files for which the user has write permission can be created and truncated. The option Support per-file encoding must have been enabled before in Gitk's Preferences. This option is disabled by default. The same happens when Show origin of this line is used in the main window (regardless of whether Support per-file encoding is enabled or not). This vulnerability is fixed in 2.43.7, 2.44.4, 2.45.4, 2.46.4, 2.47.3, 2.48.2, 2.49.1, and 2.50.1.

Weakness: CWE-78 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2025-27613?


## How do I fix CVE-2025-27613?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2025-27613 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-27613 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2025-27613 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2025-27613 is a low-severity path traversal vulnerability in j6t gitk, published on 10 Jul 2025. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2025-27613 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: j6t gitk. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-27613/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-27613/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-27613
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-27613
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2025-27613

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-27613/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.