CVE-2023-25815: fedoraproject fedora Path Traversal

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2023-25815 is a low (CVSS 3.3) Path Traversal vulnerability in fedoraproject fedora. EPSS estimates a 0.84% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 57% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 25-04-2023
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 04-11-2025
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

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:\`.

• CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.
• CWE-134Use of Externally-Controlled Format StringThe product uses a function that accepts a format string as an argument, but the format string originates from an external source.