Description

GitPython: Arbitrary file read via --pathspec-from-file in IndexFile.remove() and Head.checkout()

Summary

IndexFile.remove() and Head.checkout() forward **kwargs into git rm and git checkout with no guard. Passing --pathspec-from-file=<file> together with --pathspec-file-nul makes Git treat the whole file as a single NUL-delimited pathspec, and the unmatched-pathspec error quotes it verbatim. GitPython surfaces that through GitCommandError.stderr, so the entire contents of a caller-chosen file are returned to the caller in band.

This is the same primitive as Instance 2 of GHSA-3f7w-8rr8-f37f - TagReference.create() with -F, arbitrary file read returned in band - at two sites that advisory assessed and cleared.

Prior art, and why I am filing rather than commenting

GHSA-3f7w-8rr8-f37f's sweep table lists these four sites with the assessment "--pathspec-from-file only reads a pathspec; no write or disclosure primitive found":

That assessment is very nearly right, and I think that is why it held: with --pathspec-from-file alone, Git splits on newlines and the error quotes only the first line, which reads as an uninteresting partial. Adding --pathspec-file-nul - a sibling flag of the same option, and the documented way to handle paths containing newlines - makes the whole file one pathspec.

Root cause

git/index/base.py:991-1043:

def remove(self, items, working_tree=False, **kwargs):
    ...
    removed_paths = self.repo.git.rm(args, paths, **kwargs).splitlines()   # line 1043

git/refs/head.py:237-268:

def checkout(self, force: bool = False, **kwargs: Any):
    ...
    self.repo.git.checkout(self, **kwargs)                                 # line 268

Neither has an allow_unsafe_options parameter or a check_unsafe_options() call.

Proof of concept

from git import Repo
from git.exc import GitCommandError

repo = Repo("/path/to/repo")
kw = dict(pathspec_from_file="/etc/passwd", pathspec_file_nul=True)

try:
    repo.index.remove([], **kw)          # or: repo.heads[0].checkout(**kw)...
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Observed on published 3.1.57, against a canary file holding three marked lines:

[PASS] IndexFile.remove() -> `git rm` returns ALL 3 canary lines in-band
       stderr: 'fatal: pathspec 'LINE1-CANARY-4242
       LINE2-SECRET-7777
       LINE3-TAIL-9999
       ' did not match any files'
[PASS] Head.checkout() -> `git checkout` returns ALL 3 canary lines in-band
       stderr: 'error: pathspec 'LINE1-CANARY-4242
       LINE2-SECRET-7777...
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The two precision controls are there so the result is about these sinks and not about the canary being visible everywhere.

Scope correction to the table above

Of the four sites cleared with that sentence, two disclose and two do not:

The two negatives are mentioned because "the dismissal was wrong" would overstate it: the dismissal was wrong for half of what it covered.

Mitigation

Aliases

References