CVE-2026-78676

GitPython before 3.1.59 fails to safely re-serialize multi-line git-config values during write operations, corrupting dormant quoted values into injected directives like core.hooksPath. Attackers can craft config files with embedded newlines that become live git directives after any unrelated GitPython config write, enabling arbitrary code execution via hook invocation.

GitPython before 3.1.59 fails to safely re-serialize multi-line git-config values during write operations, corrupting dormant quoted values into injected directives like core.hooksPath. Attackers can craft config files with embedded newlines that become live git directives after any unrelated GitPython config write, enabling arbitrary code execution via hook invocation.

• CWE: CWE-88 (Argument Injection) / CWE-94 (Code Injection) — via a read-then-corrupt-on-rewrite config round trip, not a direct setter argument
• Affected component: git/config.py — GitConfigParser._read() (multi-line value decoding, lines 444-541, esp. string_decode() at line 460 and its call sites at 519/541) and GitConfigParser._write()/write_section() (serialization, lines ~694-712, esp. line 708)
• Affected version: GitPython at HEAD (9729ed3b948f2bde09f1f188c5311e172212b67e, 2026-08-05, VERSION 3.1.58)

Reachability

GitPython added UNSAFE_CONFIG_CHARS_RE / _value_to_string_safe() / _assure_config_name_safe() guards (commits c417af46, 1ed1b924, a495ccd3, and PR #2176) to reject a Python string containing a raw \r/\n/NUL byte, or syntax-bearing characters, when it is passed as an argument to set(), set_value(), add_value(), or add_section(). This closed the four config-injection GHSAs above.

That guard is applied only on the write-argument surface. It is never consulted for values that entered GitConfigParser._sections via _read() — i.e. values that came from parsing an on-disk config file. And _read() legitimately supports standard, spec-compliant git config syntax for multi-line values: a quoted value that is not closed on the same physical line continues onto the next physical line (git's own backslash-continuation syntax), and string_decode() (.decode('unicode_escape')) decodes a literal two-character \n escape sequence inside such a value into a real embedded LF character in the resulting Python string. No raw control byte is ever written to disk to achieve this — it's the same syntax real git itself uses and accepts.

The bug is in what happens when that GitConfigParser is later flushed: write_section() (line ~694) calls the unsafe self._value_to_string(v) — not _value_to_string_safe() — and "handles" any embedded newline in the value with .replace("\n", "\n\t") (line 708), emitting a bare, unquoted <real newline><tab> in the output file with no re-quoting and no backslash-continuation marker. Real git does not treat an indentation-only continuation the way GitPython's writer assumes — a value only continues across physical lines when the previous line ends in a literal \ immediately before the newline. So the moment write_section() re-serializes a previously-decoded multi-line value this way, the second half of that value becomes an independent, new config line the next time anyone (GitPython or real git) parses the file. If an attacker chooses the dormant value's content to be <anything>\nhooksPath = <attacker path>, that second line is parsed as a brand-new core.hooksPath = <attacker path> directive — live, real Git configuration, not a value.

core.hooksPath is honored by essentially every hook-firing git operation (commit, checkout, merge, push, rebase, ...), giving arbitrary code execution the next time the host application performs any hook-triggering operation.

Root cause

GitConfigParser's injection guard is asymmetric: it hardens every write-argument entry point (the fix for the four sibling GHSAs) but never hardens the read → corrupt-on-rewrite round trip. A value that is 100% legitimate and inert as parsed from disk becomes a newly-injected directive purely through GitPython's own broken re-serialization logic (write_section() using the unsafe value-to-string path plus a continuation scheme real git doesn't recognize). The c417af46 commit message even states its intent explicitly: "This preserves existing read behavior for config files that already contain multiline values while preventing GitPython from writing new unsafe values" — i.e. the maintainers consciously scoped the fix to the write-argument surface and did not address what happens when an already-resident multi-line value gets rewritten.

Exploit path

1. A .git/config (or any…

Duplicate Advisory

This advisory has been withdrawn because it is a duplicate of GHSA-284h-m62q-gf8w. This link is maintained to preserve external references.

Original Description

GitPython before 3.1.59 fails to safely re-serialize multi-line git-config values during write operations, corrupting dormant quoted values into injected directives like core.hooksPath. Attackers can craft config files with embedded newlines that become live git directives after any unrelated GitPython config write, enabling arbitrary code execution via hook invocation.

GitPython is a python library used to interact with git repositories, high-level like git-porcelain, or low-level like git-plumbing.

Security Fix(es):

GitPython before 3.1.57 contains an incomplete denylist in the unsafe_git_archive_options guard that omits --add-file and --add-virtual-file options. Attackers can supply these options to Repo.archive() to read arbitrary files from the filesystem and include them in the returned archive.(CVE-2026-73619)

GitPython before 3.1.57 fails to guard git option forwarding in IndexFile.checkout() and TagReference.create(), allowing attackers to pass unsafe options via kwargs. Attackers can use --prefix to overwrite arbitrary files with repository content or -F to read arbitrary files returned in-band.(CVE-2026-73620)

GitPython before 3.1.56 contains an argument injection vulnerability in the Commit.count() method, which forwards keyword arguments to 'git rev-list' without the check_unsafe_options guard present in the sibling iter_items method. An attacker who can control options passed to Commit.count (e.g., via an application that forwards a user-supplied options dict) can supply output=<path>, causing 'git rev-list --output=<path>' to open and truncate the target file to zero bytes before revision parsing. This allows destruction/blanking of an arbitrary file at the process's privilege level (no content control, 0-byte truncation).(CVE-2026-73621)

GitPython before 3.1.55 fails to disable environment variable expansion in Remote.create() and Submodule.add() URL handling, allowing attackers to exfiltrate secrets by supplying URLs containing variable references. Attackers can craft URLs with environment variable tokens that are expanded into .git/config and .gitmodules, then transmitted to attacker-controlled hosts during fetch or pull operations.(CVE-2026-73622)

GitPython before 3.1.54 contains an incomplete denylist in unsafe_git_clone_options that omits --template, allowing attackers to achieve arbitrary command execution during clone operations. Attackers can supply --template pointing to a directory containing malicious post-checkout hooks that execute when git clones the repository.(CVE-2026-73623)

GitPython versions before 3.1.54 contain an arbitrary file overwrite vulnerability in the Diffable.diff method that fails to validate git options passed through kwargs. Attackers can supply the --output argument via the other parameter or output kwarg to write patch content to attacker-chosen file paths at process privilege level.(CVE-2026-73624)

GitPython versions before 3.1.54 contain a remote code execution vulnerability in the check_unsafe_options guard that can be bypassed by smuggling git options inside single-character kwarg values. Attackers can supply crafted option dictionaries to clone_from, fetch, pull, push, ls_remote, iter_commits, blame, or archive methods to execute arbitrary OS commands via the --upload-pack parameter.(CVE-2026-73625)

GitPython versions before 3.1.58 fail to validate options passed to git rm and git checkout commands in IndexFile.remove() and Head.checkout(). Attackers can supply --pathspec-from-file and --pathspec-file-nul parameters to read arbitrary files accessible to the process, with full file contents returned in GitCommandError.stderr.(CVE-2026-76217)

GitPython before 3.1.58 contains a remote code execution vulnerability in Repo.init that forwards unsafe git options without validation. Attackers can supply a template parameter pointing to a directory with malicious git hooks that execute arbitrary code when git operations are performed on the initialized repository.(CVE-2026-76218)

GitPython versions before 3.1.58 contain an arbitrary file overwrite vulnerability in IndexFile.from_tree, IndexFile.reset, and IndexFile.merge_tree methods that append caller-influenced treeish strings to git read-tree without option validation or argument separation. Attackers can inject the --index-output option to…

GitPython is a python library used to interact with git repositories, high-level like git-porcelain, or low-level like git-plumbing.

Security Fix(es):

GitPython before 3.1.57 contains an incomplete denylist in the unsafe_git_archive_options guard that omits --add-file and --add-virtual-file options. Attackers can supply these options to Repo.archive() to read arbitrary files from the filesystem and include them in the returned archive.(CVE-2026-73619)

GitPython before 3.1.57 fails to guard git option forwarding in IndexFile.checkout() and TagReference.create(), allowing attackers to pass unsafe options via kwargs. Attackers can use --prefix to overwrite arbitrary files with repository content or -F to read arbitrary files returned in-band.(CVE-2026-73620)

GitPython before 3.1.56 contains an argument injection vulnerability in the Commit.count() method, which forwards keyword arguments to 'git rev-list' without the check_unsafe_options guard present in the sibling iter_items method. An attacker who can control options passed to Commit.count (e.g., via an application that forwards a user-supplied options dict) can supply output=<path>, causing 'git rev-list --output=<path>' to open and truncate the target file to zero bytes before revision parsing. This allows destruction/blanking of an arbitrary file at the process's privilege level (no content control, 0-byte truncation).(CVE-2026-73621)

GitPython before 3.1.55 fails to disable environment variable expansion in Remote.create() and Submodule.add() URL handling, allowing attackers to exfiltrate secrets by supplying URLs containing variable references. Attackers can craft URLs with environment variable tokens that are expanded into .git/config and .gitmodules, then transmitted to attacker-controlled hosts during fetch or pull operations.(CVE-2026-73622)

GitPython before 3.1.54 contains an incomplete denylist in unsafe_git_clone_options that omits --template, allowing attackers to achieve arbitrary command execution during clone operations. Attackers can supply --template pointing to a directory containing malicious post-checkout hooks that execute when git clones the repository.(CVE-2026-73623)

GitPython versions before 3.1.54 contain an arbitrary file overwrite vulnerability in the Diffable.diff method that fails to validate git options passed through kwargs. Attackers can supply the --output argument via the other parameter or output kwarg to write patch content to attacker-chosen file paths at process privilege level.(CVE-2026-73624)

GitPython versions before 3.1.54 contain a remote code execution vulnerability in the check_unsafe_options guard that can be bypassed by smuggling git options inside single-character kwarg values. Attackers can supply crafted option dictionaries to clone_from, fetch, pull, push, ls_remote, iter_commits, blame, or archive methods to execute arbitrary OS commands via the --upload-pack parameter.(CVE-2026-73625)

GitPython versions before 3.1.58 fail to validate options passed to git rm and git checkout commands in IndexFile.remove() and Head.checkout(). Attackers can supply --pathspec-from-file and --pathspec-file-nul parameters to read arbitrary files accessible to the process, with full file contents returned in GitCommandError.stderr.(CVE-2026-76217)

GitPython before 3.1.58 contains a remote code execution vulnerability in Repo.init that forwards unsafe git options without validation. Attackers can supply a template parameter pointing to a directory with malicious git hooks that execute arbitrary code when git operations are performed on the initialized repository.(CVE-2026-76218)

GitPython versions before 3.1.58 contain an arbitrary file overwrite vulnerability in IndexFile.from_tree, IndexFile.reset, and IndexFile.merge_tree methods that append caller-influenced treeish strings to git read-tree without option validation or argument separation. Attackers can inject the --index-output option to…

GitPython is a python library used to interact with git repositories, high-level like git-porcelain, or low-level like git-plumbing.

Security Fix(es):

GitPython before 3.1.57 contains an incomplete denylist in the unsafe_git_archive_options guard that omits --add-file and --add-virtual-file options. Attackers can supply these options to Repo.archive() to read arbitrary files from the filesystem and include them in the returned archive.(CVE-2026-73619)

GitPython before 3.1.57 fails to guard git option forwarding in IndexFile.checkout() and TagReference.create(), allowing attackers to pass unsafe options via kwargs. Attackers can use --prefix to overwrite arbitrary files with repository content or -F to read arbitrary files returned in-band.(CVE-2026-73620)

GitPython before 3.1.56 contains an argument injection vulnerability in the Commit.count() method, which forwards keyword arguments to 'git rev-list' without the check_unsafe_options guard present in the sibling iter_items method. An attacker who can control options passed to Commit.count (e.g., via an application that forwards a user-supplied options dict) can supply output=<path>, causing 'git rev-list --output=<path>' to open and truncate the target file to zero bytes before revision parsing. This allows destruction/blanking of an arbitrary file at the process's privilege level (no content control, 0-byte truncation).(CVE-2026-73621)

GitPython before 3.1.55 fails to disable environment variable expansion in Remote.create() and Submodule.add() URL handling, allowing attackers to exfiltrate secrets by supplying URLs containing variable references. Attackers can craft URLs with environment variable tokens that are expanded into .git/config and .gitmodules, then transmitted to attacker-controlled hosts during fetch or pull operations.(CVE-2026-73622)

GitPython before 3.1.54 contains an incomplete denylist in unsafe_git_clone_options that omits --template, allowing attackers to achieve arbitrary command execution during clone operations. Attackers can supply --template pointing to a directory containing malicious post-checkout hooks that execute when git clones the repository.(CVE-2026-73623)

GitPython versions before 3.1.54 contain an arbitrary file overwrite vulnerability in the Diffable.diff method that fails to validate git options passed through kwargs. Attackers can supply the --output argument via the other parameter or output kwarg to write patch content to attacker-chosen file paths at process privilege level.(CVE-2026-73624)

GitPython versions before 3.1.54 contain a remote code execution vulnerability in the check_unsafe_options guard that can be bypassed by smuggling git options inside single-character kwarg values. Attackers can supply crafted option dictionaries to clone_from, fetch, pull, push, ls_remote, iter_commits, blame, or archive methods to execute arbitrary OS commands via the --upload-pack parameter.(CVE-2026-73625)

GitPython versions before 3.1.58 fail to validate options passed to git rm and git checkout commands in IndexFile.remove() and Head.checkout(). Attackers can supply --pathspec-from-file and --pathspec-file-nul parameters to read arbitrary files accessible to the process, with full file contents returned in GitCommandError.stderr.(CVE-2026-76217)

GitPython before 3.1.58 contains a remote code execution vulnerability in Repo.init that forwards unsafe git options without validation. Attackers can supply a template parameter pointing to a directory with malicious git hooks that execute arbitrary code when git operations are performed on the initialized repository.(CVE-2026-76218)

GitPython versions before 3.1.58 contain an arbitrary file overwrite vulnerability in IndexFile.from_tree, IndexFile.reset, and IndexFile.merge_tree methods that append caller-influenced treeish strings to git read-tree without option validation or argument separation. Attackers can inject the --index-output option to…

GitPython before 3.1.59 fails to safely re-serialize multi-line git-config values during write operations, corrupting dormant quoted values into injected directives like core.hooksPath. Attackers can craft config files with embedded newlines that become live git directives after any unrelated GitPython config write, enabling arbitrary code execution via hook invocation.

TuxCare rebuilt gitpython to address 5 CVEs. Fixed in 3.1.31.post12+tuxcare.

These are all security issues fixed in the python313-GitPython-3.1.59-3.1 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.

This update for python-GitPython fixes the following issues:

• CVE-2026-67322: environment-variable exfiltration in Repo.clone_from() URL via os.path.expandvars() (bsc#1273357).
• CVE-2026-67323: unguarded Git options passed as keyword arguments in Repo.archive() and git.ls_remote() allow for command injection (bsc#1273358).
• CVE-2026-67325: incomplete command injection blocklist fails to account for git's long-option prefix abbreviation feature and allows for bypass (bsc#1273359).
• CVE-2026-67326: failure to validate newline characters in the section parameter of config_writer() can lead to RCE via core.hooksPath (bsc#1273364).
• CVE-2026-69097: failure to properly escape section names in Git config files allows for injection of arbitrary configuration directives through malicious submodule names and can lead to RCE (bsc#1273414).
• CVE-2026-73619: incomplete denylist in the unsafe_git_archive_options guard that omits --add-file and --add- virtual-file options can lead to arbitrary file reads (bsc#1275755).
• CVE-2026-73620: failure to guard Git option forwarding in IndexFile.checkout() and TagReference.create() can lead to arbitrary file reads and writes (bsc#1275756).
• CVE-2026-73621: argument injection in the Commit.count() method allows for destruction/blanking of arbitrary files (bsc#1275757).
• CVE-2026-73622: failure to disable environment variable expansion in Remote.create() and Submodule.add() URL handling allows for secret exfiltration via URLs containing variable references (bsc#1275751).
• CVE-2026-73623: incomplete denylist in unsafe_git_clone_options that omits --template allows for arbitrary command execution (bsc#1275752).
• CVE-2026-73624: Diffable.diff method fails to validate git options passed through kwargs, which can lead to arbitrary file writes (bsc#1275753).
• CVE-2026-73625: check_unsafe_options guard bypass via smuggling of git options inside single-character kwarg values can lead to arbitrary code execution (bsc#1275754).
• CVE-2026-76217: failure to validate options passed to git rm and git checkout commands in IndexFile.remove() and Head.checkout() can lead to arbitrary file reads (bsc#1275745).
• CVE-2026-76218: unguarded git option forwarding in Repo.init allows for arbitrary command execution (bsc#1275746).
• CVE-2026-76219: unguarded git read-tree option forwarding in IndexFile.from_tree/reset/merge_tree can lead to arbitrary file overwrites (bsc#1275747).
• CVE-2026-76220: check_unsafe_options guard can be bypassed by combining a single-character kwarg with split_single_char_options=False, which can lead to arbitrary OS command injection (bsc#1275748).
• CVE-2026-76221: config-name injection in the option-name validator can lead to remote code execution (bsc#1275749).
• CVE-2026-76222: failure to validate submodule names from .gitmodules files allows creation of Git repositories at arbitrary filesystem paths outside the intended clone directory (bsc#1275750).
• CVE-2026-78675: failure to disable merge_includes when parsing .gitmodules can lead to discloseure of local file contents when arbitrary file paths are included via [include] directives (bsc#1276434).
• CVE-2026-78676: failure to safely re-serialize multi-line git-config values during write operations can corrupt dormant quoted values into live injected directives (bsc#1276433).
• CVE-2026-78677: omission of --separate-git-dir from unsafe_git_clone_options allows for creation of arbitrary git directories outside the intended clone destination (bsc#1276432).
• CVE-2026-78678: incomplete denylist in the unsafe_git_revision_options guard that omits --contents and -S options allows for reading of arbitrary files when these options to are passed to Repo.blame() (bsc#1276431).
• CVE-2026-78679: positional reference parameter can bypass an unsafe option guard and allows for arbitrary file read via…

Root has patched CVE-2026-78676 in the GitPython package for Root:PyPI. Multiple fixed versions available.

Root has patched GHSA-9557-234j-7rv9 in the GitPython package for Root:PyPI. Multiple fixed versions available.

This update for python-GitPython fixes the following issues:

• CVE-2026-42215: command injection via Git options bypass (bsc#1264604).
• CVE-2026-42284: unsafe option check validates multi_options before shlex.split transforms it (bsc#1264605).
• CVE-2026-44243: path traversal in GitPython reference APIs allows arbitrary file write and delete outside the repository (bsc#1264606).
• CVE-2026-44244: newline injection in config_writer().set_value() enables RCE via core.hooksPath (bsc#1264608).
• CVE-2026-67322: vulnerable to environment-variable exfiltration in Repo.clone_from() (bsc#1273357).
• CVE-2026-67323: fails to guard against dangerous Git options passed as keyword arguments in Repo.archive() and git.ls_remote() (bsc#1273358).
• CVE-2026-67325: contains an incomplete command injection blocklist that fails to account for git's long-option prefix abbreviation feature (bsc#1273359).
• CVE-2026-67326: fails to validate newline characters in the section parameter of config_writer() (bsc#1273364).
• CVE-2026-69097: fails to properly escape section names in git config files, allowing attackers to inject arbitrary configuration directives through malicious submodule names (bsc#1273414).
• CVE-2026-73619: incomplete denylist in the unsafe_git_archive_options guard that omits --add-file and --add- virtual-file options can lead to arbitrary file reads (bsc#1275755).
• CVE-2026-73620: failure to guard git option forwarding in IndexFile.checkout() and TagReference.create() can lead to arbitrary file reads and writes (bsc#1275756).
• CVE-2026-73621: argument injection in the Commit.count() method allows for destruction/blanking of arbitrary files (bsc#1275757).
• CVE-2026-73622: failure to disable environment variable expansion in Remote.create() and Submodule.add() URL handling allows for secret exfiltration via URLs containing variable references (bsc#1275751).
• CVE-2026-73623: incomplete denylist in unsafe_git_clone_options that omits --template allows for arbitrary command execution (bsc#1275752).
• CVE-2026-73624: Diffable.diff method fails to validate git options passed through kwargs, which can lead to arbitrary file writes (bsc#1275753).
• CVE-2026-73625: check_unsafe_options guard bypass via smuggling of git options inside single-character kwarg values can lead to arbitrary code execution (bsc#1275754).
• CVE-2026-76217: failure to validate options passed to git rm and git checkout commands in IndexFile.remove() and Head.checkout() can lead to arbitrary file reads (bsc#1275745).
• CVE-2026-76218: unguarded git option forwarding in Repo.init allows for arbitrary command execution (bsc#1275746).
• CVE-2026-76219: unguarded git read-tree option forwarding in IndexFile.from_tree/reset/merge_tree can lead to arbitrary file overwrites (bsc#1275747).
• CVE-2026-76220: check_unsafe_options guard can be bypassed by combining a single-character kwarg with split_single_char_options=False, which can lead to arbitrary OS command injection (bsc#1275748).
• CVE-2026-76221: config-name injection in the option-name validator can lead to remote code execution (bsc#1275749).
• CVE-2026-76222: failure to validate submodule names from .gitmodules files allows creation of Git repositories at arbitrary filesystem paths outside the intended clone directory (bsc#1275750).
• CVE-2026-78675: fails to disable merge_includes when parsing .gitmodules, allowing attackers to disclose local file content by including arbitrary file paths via [include] directives (bsc#1276434).
• CVE-2026-78676: fails to safely re-serialize multi-line git-config values during write operations, corrupting dormant quoted values into injected directives (bsc#1276433).
• CVE-2026-78677: allowing creation of arbitrary git directories outside the intended clone destination (bsc#1276432).
• CVE-2026-78678: an incomplete denylist in the unsafe_git_revision_options guard that omits --contents…