CVE-2023-41040

Description

GitPython is a python library used to interact with Git repositories. In order to resolve some git references, GitPython reads files from the `.git` directory, in some places the name of the file being read is provided by the user, GitPython doesn't check if this file is located outside the `.git` directory. This allows an attacker to make GitPython read any file from the system. This vulnerability is present in https://github.com/gitpython-developers/GitPython/blob/1c8310d7cae144f74a671cbe17e51f63a830adbf/git/refs/symbolic.py#L174-L175. That code joins the base directory with a user given string without checking if the final path is located outside the base directory. This vulnerability cannot be used to read the contents of files but could in theory be used to trigger a denial of service for the program. This issue has been addressed in version 3.1.37.

Status

Show unmaintained releases

Package	Ubuntu Release	Status
python-git	26.04 LTS resolute	Not affected
	25.10 questing	Not affected
	25.04 plucky	Ignored end of life, was needs-triage
	24.10 oracular	Ignored end of life, was needs-triage
	24.04 LTS noble	Not affected
	23.10 mantic	Ignored end of life, was needs-triage
	23.04 lunar	Ignored end of life, was needs-triage
	22.04 LTS jammy	Fixed 3.1.24-1ubuntu0.1~esm3
	20.04 LTS focal	Fixed 3.0.7-1ubuntu0.1~esm4
	18.04 LTS bionic	Fixed 2.1.8-1ubuntu0.1~esm4
	16.04 LTS xenial	Ignored end of standard support
	14.04 LTS trusty	Fixed 0.3.2~RC1-3ubuntu0.1~esm3

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Patch details

For informational purposes only. We recommend not to cherry-pick updates. How can I get the fixes?

Package	Patch details
python-git	Upstream: 74e55ee

Severity score breakdown

Parameter	Value
Base score	4.0 · Medium
Attack vector	Local
Attack complexity	Low
Privileges required	None
User interaction	None
Scope	Unchanged
Confidentiality	None
Integrity impact	None
Availability impact	Low
Vector	CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

References

Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)

USN-8303-1
GitPython vulnerabilities
26 May 2026