Git tool patches serious vulnerabilities

Git repository hosting services GitHub, GitLab and Microsoft VSTS were all impacted by a serious vulnerability that could lead to arbitrary code execution when a developer uses a malicious repository, Threatpost reports. Each of the hosting services patched the bug on Tuesday. 

Developers of the open-source development Git tool fixed vulnerabilities as part of latest version Git 2.17.1.

The two vulnerabilities addressed include CVE-2018-11233 and CVE-2018-11235, the latter being the most serious according to researchers. 

An excerpt of CVE-2018-11235 from NIST:

 “In Git before 2.13.7, 2.14.x before 2.14.4, 2.15.x before 2.15.2, 2.16.x before 2.16.4, and 2.17.x before 2.17.1, remote code execution can occur. With a crafted .gitmodules file, a malicious project can execute an arbitrary script on a machine that runs “git clone –recurse-submodules” because submodule “names” are obtained from this file, and then appended to $GIT_DIR/modules, leading to directory traversal with “../” in a name. Finally, post-checkout hooks from a submodule are executed, bypassing the intended design in which hooks are not obtained from a remote server.”

The bugs were discovered by security researchers Jeff King and Johannes Schindelin and others.