CVE-2023-29011 HIGH

CVE-2023-29011: Git for Windows's config file of `connect.exe` is susceptible to malicious placing

Vendor Git-For-Windows
Product git
Weakness CWE-427
Published April 25, 2023
Last update February 3, 2025

CVSS base score

7.6/10
Attack vector Local
Attack complexity High
Privileges required Low
User interaction Required
Confidentiality High
Integrity High

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

What the vulnerability does

01Description

Git for Windows, the Windows port of Git, ships with an executable called `connect.exe`, which implements a SOCKS5 proxy that can be used to connect e.g. to SSH servers via proxies when certain ports are blocked for outgoing connections. The location of `connect.exe`'s config file is hard-coded as `/etc/connectrc` which will typically be interpreted as `C:\etc\connectrc`. Since `C:\etc` can be created by any authenticated user, this makes `connect.exe` susceptible to malicious files being placed there by other users on the same multi-user machine. The problem has been patched in Git for Windows v2.40.1. As a workaround, create the folder `etc` on all drives where Git commands are run, and remove read/write access from those folders. Alternatively, watch out for malicious `<drive>:\etc\connectrc` files on multi-user machines.

Key dates

02Disclosure timeline

April 25, 2023 CVE published
February 3, 2025 Record updated