title: Git subject to exposure of sensitive information via local clone of symbolic links
description: Git is an open source, scalable, distributed revision control system. Versions prior to 2.30.6, 2.31.5, 2.32.4, 2.33.5, 2.34.5, 2.35.5, 2.36.3, and 2.37.4 are subject to exposure of sensitive information to a malicious actor. When performing a local clone (where the source and target of the clone are on the same volume), Git copies the contents of the source's `$GIT_DIR/objects` directory into the destination by either creating hardlinks to the source contents, or copying them (if hardlinks are disabled via `--no-hardlinks`). A malicious actor could convince a victim to clone a repository with a symbolic link pointing at sensitive information on the victim's machine. This can be done either by having the victim clone a malicious repository on the same machine, or having them clone a malicious repository embedded as a bare repository via a submodule from any source, provided they clone with the `--recurse-submodules` option. Git does not create symbolic links in the `$GIT_DIR/objects` directory. The problem has been patched in the versions published on 2022-10-18, and backported to v2.30.x. Potential workarounds: Avoid cloning untrusted repositories using the `--local` optimization when on a shared machine, either by passing the `--no-local` option to `git clone` or cloning from a URL that uses the `file://` scheme. Alternatively, avoid cloning repositories from untrusted sources with `--recurse-submodules` or run `git config --global protocol.file.allow user`.
problem types: CWE-200: Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
affected:
{
vendor: git
product: git
versions:
version: < 2.30.6, status: affected
version: < 2.31.5, status: affected
version: < 2.32.4, status: affected
version: < 2.33.5, status: affected
version: < 2.34.5, status: affected
version: < 2.35.5, status: affected
version: < 2.36.3, status: affected
version: < 2.37.4, status: affected
}
metrics:
cvssV3_1: [
version: 3.1
vectorString: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
attackVector: LOCAL
attackComplexity: LOW
privilegesRequired: NONE
userInteraction: REQUIRED
scope: UNCHANGED
confidentialityImpact: HIGH
integrityImpact: NONE
availabilityImpact: NONE
baseScore: 5.5
baseSeverity: MEDIUM
]