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OpenAdvisories
High · 7.8 CVE-2023-40590 EUVD-2023-0086GHSA-wfm5-v35h-vwf4PYSEC-2023-161

Untrusted search path on Windows systems leading to arbitrary code execution

Published Aug 28, 2023 · Updated Oct 2, 2024 · Assigned by GitHub_M

Description

GitPython is a python library used to interact with Git repositories. When resolving a program, Python/Windows look for the current working directory, and after that the PATH environment. GitPython defaults to use the `git` command, if a user runs GitPython from a repo has a `git.exe` or `git` executable, that program will be run instead of the one in the user's `PATH`. This is more of a problem on how Python interacts with Windows systems, Linux and any other OS aren't affected by this. But probably people using GitPython usually run it from the CWD of a repo. An attacker can trick a user to download a repository with a malicious `git` executable, if the user runs/imports GitPython from that directory, it allows the attacker to run any arbitrary commands. There is no fix currently available for windows users, however there are a few mitigations. 1: Default to an absolute path for the git program on Windows, like `C:\\Program Files\\Git\\cmd\\git.EXE` (default git path installation). 2: Require users to set the `GIT_PYTHON_GIT_EXECUTABLE` environment variable on Windows systems. 3: Make this problem prominent in the documentation and advise users to never run GitPython from an untrusted repo, or set the `GIT_PYTHON_GIT_EXECUTABLE` env var to an absolute path. 4: Resolve the executable manually by only looking into the `PATH` environment variable.

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
gitpython-developers GitPython <= 3.1.32 —

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS python-git No fix yet —
Show 4 more (older releases, extended support, other products)
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu Pro 20.04 LTS python-git No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 18.04 LTS python-git No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 16.04 LTS python-git No fix yet —
Ubuntu Pro 14.04 LTS python-git No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
openSUSE Tumbleweed python-GitPython 3.1.56-1.1 openSUSE-SU-2026:11419-1

Affected packages

EcosystemPackageAffectedFixedRecord
PyPI gitpython < 3.1.33 3.1.33 GHSA-wfm5-v35h-vwf4

Advisories 2

References