CVE-2023-49568 — v5
HIGHCVE-2023-49568 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Improper Input Validation vulnerability in github.com/go-git/go-git/v5. A fix is available for github.com/go-git/go-git/v5 — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Maliciously crafted Git server replies can cause DoS on go-git clients
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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-2023-49568.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-49568 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,636 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/go-git/go-git/v5🐹gopkg.in/src-d/go-git.v4Real-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
A denial of service (DoS) vulnerability was discovered in go-git versions prior to v5.11. This vulnerability allows an attacker to perform denial of service attacks by providing specially crafted responses from a Git server which triggers resource exhaustion in go-git clients.
Applications using only the in-memory filesystem supported by go-git are not affected by this vulnerability.
This is a go-git implementation issue and does not affect the upstream git cli.
Patches
Users running versions of go-git from v4 and above are recommended to upgrade to v5.11 in order to mitigate this vulnerability.
Workarounds
In cases where a bump to the latest version of go-git is not possible, we recommend limiting its use to only trust-worthy Git servers.
Credit
Thanks to Ionut Lalu for responsibly disclosing this vulnerability to us.
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/go-git/go-git/v5 | all versions | 5.11.0go get github.com/go-git/go-git/v5@v5.11.0 |
| 🐹Go | gopkg.in/src-d/go-git.v4 | ≥ 4.7.1 | No fix |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/go-git/go-git/v5, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/go-git/go-git/v5 to 5.11.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-49568 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.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-49568 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-49568. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This problem only affects the go implementation and not the original git cli code. Applications using only in-memory filesystems are not affected by this issue. Clients should be limited to connect to only trusted git servers to reduce the risk of compromise.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| multicluster-globalhub 1.0 for RHEL 8 | multicluster-globalhub/multicluster-globalhub-grafana-rhel8:v1.0.2-4 | RHSA-2024:0989 |
| OPENSHIFT-BUILDS-1.0-RHEL-8 | openshift-builds/openshift-builds-controller-rhel8:v1.0.1-4 | RHSA-2024:1557 |
| Openshift Serverless 1 on RHEL 8 | openshift-serverless-clients-0:1.10.0-6.el8 | RHSA-2024:0880 |
| Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes 2.9 for RHEL 8 | rhacm2/multicluster-operators-subscription-rhel8:v2.9.2-2 | RHSA-2024:0298 |
| Red Hat Advanced Cluster Security 4.4 | advanced-cluster-security/rhacs-central-db-rhel8:4.4.0-9 | RHSA-2024:1570 |
| Red Hat Ceph Storage 7.1 | ceph-2:18.2.1-194.el8cp | RHSA-2024:3925 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 | openshift4/ose-ansible-operator:v4.12.0-202402081808.p0.g0bd975e.assembly.stream.el8 | RHSA-2024:0832 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.12 | openshift4/ose-operator-lifecycle-manager:v4.12.0-202402111607.p0.g9dd28b4.assembly.stream.el8 | RHSA-2024:0833 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-49568 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-49568 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.