CVE-2022-24826 — git-lfs
CRITICALCVE-2022-24826 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.8) CWE-426 vulnerability in github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/v3. A fix is available for github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/v3 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Git LFS can execute a binary from the current directory on Windows
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-24826.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/v3🐹github.com/git-lfs/git-lfsReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
On Windows, if Git LFS operates on a malicious repository with a ..exe file as well as a file named git.exe, and git.exe is not found in PATH, the ..exe program will be executed, permitting the attacker to execute arbitrary code. This does not affect Unix systems.
Similarly, if the malicious repository contains files named ..exe and cygpath.exe, and cygpath.exe is not found in PATH, the ..exe program will be executed when certain Git LFS commands are run.
More generally, if the current working directory contains any file with a base name of . and a file extension from PATHEXT (except .bat and .cmd), and also contains another file with the same base name as a program Git LFS intends to execute (such as git, cygpath, or uname) and any file extension from PATHEXT (including .bat and .cmd), then, on Windows, when Git LFS attempts to execute the intended program the ..exe, ..com, etc., file will be executed instead, but only if the intended program is not found in any directory listed in PATH.
The vulnerability occurs because when Git LFS detects that the program it intends to run does not exist in any directory listed in PATH then Git LFS passes an empty string as the executable file path to the Go os/exec package, which contains a bug such that, on Windows, it prepends the name of the current working directory (i.e., .) to the empty string without adding a path separator, and as a result searches in that directory for a file with the base name . combined with any file extension from PATHEXT, executing the first one it finds.
(The reason ..bat and ..cmd files are not executed in the same manner is that, although the Go os/exec package tries to execute them just as it does a ..exe file, the Microsoft Win32 API CreateProcess() family of functions have an undocumented feature in that they apparently recognize when a caller is attempting to execute a batch script file and instead run the cmd.exe command interpreter, passing the full set of command line arguments as parameters. These are unchanged from the command line arguments set by Git LFS, and as such, the intended program's name is the first, resulting in a command line like cmd.exe /c git, which then fails.)
Git LFS has resolved this vulnerability by always reporting an error when a program is not found in any directory listed in PATH rather than passing an empty string to the Go os/exec package in this case.
The bug in the Go os/exec package has been reported to the Go project and is expected to be patched after this security advisory is published.
Patches
The problem was introduced in v2.12.1 and is patched in v3.1.3 and v3.1.4. Users of affected versions should upgrade to v3.1.4.
Workarounds
There are no known workarounds at this time.
References
- https://github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/security/advisories/GHSA-6rw3-3whw-jvjj
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-24826
- https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2022-24826
- https://github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/releases/tag/v3.1.4
- git-lfs/git-lfs@762ccd4a49
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- For general questions, start a discussion in the Git LFS discussion forum.
- For reports of additional vulnerabilities, please follow the Git LFS security reporting policy.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/v3 | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.1.3 | 3.1.3go get github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/v3@v3.1.3 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs | ≥ 2.12.1 | No fix |
Affected Products
git large file storagegit_large_file_storage_projectDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/v3, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs/v3 to 3.1.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-24826 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-24826 in your dependencies?
Find it across Go, including transitive dependencies.