Git is distributed revision control system. gitattributes are a mechanism to allow defining attributes for paths. These attributes can be defined by adding a `.gitattributes` file to the repository, which contains a set of file patterns and the attributes that should be set for paths matching this pattern. When parsing gitattributes, multiple integer overflows can occur when there is a huge number of path patterns, a huge number of attributes for a single pattern, or when the declared attribute names are huge. These overflows can be triggered via a crafted `.gitattributes` file that may be part of the commit history. Git silently splits lines longer than 2KB when parsing gitattributes from a file, but not when parsing them from the index. Consequentially, the failure mode depends on whether the file exists in the working tree, the index or both. This integer overflow can result in arbitrary heap reads and writes, which may result in remote code execution. The problem has been patched in the versions published on 2023-01-17, going back to v2.30.7. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this issue.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-23521 is rated High Risk (78.8/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 56.33%, 99th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +46.90% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).
| # | Date | Old EPSS score | New EPSS score | Delta (New - Old) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2026-06-15 | 9.44% | 56.33% | +46.90% |
| 2 | 2026-05-22 | 12.29% | 9.44% | -2.85% |
| 3 | 2026-03-15 | — | 12.29% | — |
Full EPSS history (65 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.8 | 3.1 | CRITICAL |
|
3.9 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| 9.8 | 3.1 | CRITICAL |
|
3.9 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
alpine
|
— | CVE-2022-23521: 1 source package rows (git); 58 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 7, open 51. | https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2022-23521 |
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2022-23521 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (git), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-23521 |
gentoo
|
high | CVE-2022-23521: 1 GLSA(s) (202312-15), 1 atom(s) (dev-vcs/git); latest impact high. | https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2022-23521 |
redhat
|
high | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-23521 |
suse
|
high | CVE-2022-23521 severity important: SUSE including 168 source package names (1.18-19.18:git-core-2.35.3-150300.10.21.1, 1.20-openssl:git-core-2.35.3-150300.10.21.1, …), 540 product×package rows across 75 product lines (Container bci/golang, Container bci/nodejs, … (75 product lines)): Fixed 462, Known Not Affected 78. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-23521/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2022-23521 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (git), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 7, needs-triage 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-23521 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| git-scm | git | <= 2.30.6 | cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| git-scm | git | >= 2.31.0, <= 2.31.5 | cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| git-scm | git | >= 2.32.0, <= 2.32.4 | cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| git-scm | git | >= 2.33.0, <= 2.33.5 | cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| git-scm | git | >= 2.34.0, <= 2.34.5 | cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| git-scm | git | >= 2.35.0, <= 2.35.5 | cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| git-scm | git | >= 2.36.0, <= 2.36.3 | cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| git-scm | git | >= 2.37.0, <= 2.37.4 | cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| git-scm | git | >= 2.38.0, <= 2.38.2 | cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| git-scm | git | 2.39.0 | cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git:2.39.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/git/git/commit/508386c6c5857b4faa2c3e491f422c98cc69ae76 | Patch Third Party Advisory |
| https://github.com/git/git/security/advisories/GHSA-c738-c5qq-xg89 | Third Party Advisory |
| https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202312-15 |