CVE-2023-22490 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in Git

Git is a revision control system. Using a specially-crafted repository, Git prior to versions 2.39.2, 2.38.4, 2.37.6, 2.36.5, 2.35.7, 2.34.7, 2.33.7, 2.32.6, 2.31.7, and 2.30.8 can be tricked into using its local clone optimization even when using a non-local transport. Though Git will abort local clones whose source `$GIT_DIR/objects` directory contains symbolic links, the `objects` directory itself may still be a symbolic link. These two may be combined to include arbitrary files based on known paths on the victim's filesystem within the malicious repository's working copy, allowing for data exfiltration in a similar manner as CVE-2022-39253. A fix has been prepared and will appear in v2.39.2 v2.38.4 v2.37.6 v2.36.5 v2.35.7 v2.34.7 v2.33.7 v2.32.6, v2.31.7 and v2.30.8. If upgrading is impractical, two short-term workarounds are available. Avoid cloning repositories from untrusted sources with `--recurse-submodules`. Instead, consider cloning repositories without recursively cloning their submodules, and instead run `git submodule update` at each layer. Before doing so, inspect each new `.gitmodules` file to ensure that it does not contain suspicious module URLs.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-04-26	0.18%	0.14%	-0.04%
2	2026-04-09	0.29%	0.18%	-0.11%
3	2026-03-04	—	0.29%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-04-26

0.18%

0.14%

-0.04%

2026-04-09

0.29%

0.18%

-0.11%

2026-03-04

—

0.29%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]
5.5	3.1	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N` Click to expand Attack vector (AV:L) They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by. Attack complexity (AC:L) Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup. Privileges required (PR:N) No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough. User interaction (UI:R) A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land. Scope (S:U) Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems. Confidentiality (C:H) Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way. Integrity (I:N) Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	1.8	3.6	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

1.8

3.6

[email protected]

5.5

3.1

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand

Attack vector (AV:L): They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L): Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N): No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R): A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U): Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H): Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N): Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

1.8

3.6

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-22490

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	—	CVE-2023-22490: 1 source package rows (git); 63 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 56.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-22490
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2023-22490 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-2023-22490
`gentoo`	high	CVE-2023-22490: 1 GLSA(s) (202312-15), 1 atom(s) (dev-vcs/git); latest impact high.	https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-22490
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-22490
`suse`	medium	CVE-2023-22490 severity moderate: SUSE including 144 source package names (1.18-19.31:git-core-2.35.3-150300.10.24.1, 1.20-openssl:git-core-2.35.3-150300.10.24.1, …), 433 product×package rows across 57 product lines (Container bci/golang, Container bci/nodejs, … (57 product lines)): Fixed 433.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-22490/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2023-22490 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (git), 8 status rows across 8 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 6, ignored 1, needs-triage 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-22490

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-22490

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
git-scm	git	< 2.30.8	cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git::::::::
git-scm	git	>= 2.31.0, < 2.31.7	cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git::::::::
git-scm	git	>= 2.32.0, < 2.32.6	cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git::::::::
git-scm	git	>= 2.33.0, < 2.33.7	cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git::::::::
git-scm	git	>= 2.34.0, < 2.34.7	cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git::::::::
git-scm	git	>= 2.35.0, < 2.35.7	cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git::::::::
git-scm	git	>= 2.36.0, < 2.36.5	cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git::::::::
git-scm	git	>= 2.37.0, < 2.37.6	cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git::::::::
git-scm	git	>= 2.38.0, < 2.38.4	cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git::::::::
git-scm	git	>= 2.39.0, < 2.39.2	cpe:2.3:a:git-scm:git::::::::

References for CVE-2023-22490

URL	Tags
https://github.com/git/git/commit/c867e4fa180bec4750e9b54eb10f459030dbebfd	Patch
https://github.com/git/git/security/advisories/GHSA-3wp6-j8xr-qw85	Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/git/git/security/advisories/GHSA-gw92-x3fm-3g3q	Vendor Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202312-15

URL

CVE-2023-22490 | Git vulnerable to local clone-based data exfiltration with non-local transports

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-22490

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-22490

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-22490

OS Trackers for CVE-2023-22490

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-22490

References for CVE-2023-22490