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Use of Externally-Controlled Format String Affecting gitk package, versions *

Severity

 Recommended
0.0
low
0
10

Based on CentOS security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.05% (21st percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-CENTOS7-GITK-5482760
  • published26 Apr 2023
  • disclosed25 Apr 2023
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Introduced: 25 Apr 2023

CVE-2023-25815  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-134  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-22  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

There is no fixed version for Centos:7 gitk.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream gitk package and not the gitk package as distributed by Centos. See How to fix? for Centos:7 relevant fixed versions and status.

In Git for Windows, the Windows port of Git, no localized messages are shipped with the installer. As a consequence, Git is expected not to localize messages at all, and skips the gettext initialization. However, due to a change in MINGW-packages, the gettext() function's implicit initialization no longer uses the runtime prefix but uses the hard-coded path C:\mingw64\share\locale to look for localized messages. And since any authenticated user has the permission to create folders in C:\ (and since C:\mingw64 does not typically exist), it is possible for low-privilege users to place fake messages in that location where git.exe will pick them up in version 2.40.1.

This vulnerability is relatively hard to exploit and requires social engineering. For example, a legitimate message at the end of a clone could be maliciously modified to ask the user to direct their web browser to a malicious website, and the user might think that the message comes from Git and is legitimate. It does require local write access by the attacker, though, which makes this attack vector less likely. Version 2.40.1 contains a patch for this issue. Some workarounds are available. Do not work on a Windows machine with shared accounts, or alternatively create a C:\mingw64 folder and leave it empty. Users who have administrative rights may remove the permission to create folders in C:\.

References

CVSS Scores

version 3.1