In Git for Windows, the Windows port of Git, no localized messages are shipped with the installer. As a consequence, Git is expected not to localize messages at all, and skips the gettext initialization. However, due to a change in MINGW-packages, the `gettext()` function's implicit initialization no longer uses the runtime prefix but uses the hard-coded path `C:\mingw64\share\locale` to look for localized messages. And since any authenticated user has the permission to create folders in `C:\` (and since `C:\mingw64` does not typically exist), it is possible for low-privilege users to place fake messages in that location where `git.exe` will pick them up in version 2.40.1. This vulnerability is relatively hard to exploit and requires social engineering. For example, a legitimate message at the end of a clone could be maliciously modified to ask the user to direct their web browser to a malicious website, and the user might think that the message comes from Git and is legitimate. It does require local write access by the attacker, though, which makes this attack vector less likely. Version 2.40.1 contains a patch for this issue. Some workarounds are available. Do not work on a Windows machine with shared accounts, or alternatively create a `C:\mingw64` folder and leave it empty. Users who have administrative rights may remove the permission to create folders in `C:\`.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-25815 is rated Low Risk (35.1/100): CVSS Low severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.05%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.
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 | 0.10% | 1.05% | +0.96% |
| 2 | 2025-03-17 | 0.04% | 0.10% | +0.05% |
| 3 | 2023-04-26 | — | 0.04% | — |
Full EPSS history (3 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.3 | 3.1 | LOW |
|
0.8 | 2.5 | [email protected] |
| 2.2 | 3.1 | LOW |
|
0.8 | 1.4 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
alpine
|
— | CVE-2023-25815: 1 source package rows (git); 7 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 0. | https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2023-25815 |
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2023-25815 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-2023-25815 |
gentoo
|
high | CVE-2023-25815: 1 GLSA(s) (202312-15), 1 atom(s) (dev-vcs/git); latest impact high. | https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2023-25815 |
redhat
|
low | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-25815 |
suse
|
high | CVE-2023-25815 severity important: SUSE including 145 source package names (1.20-openssl:git-core-2.35.3-150300.10.27.1, 1.21:git-core-2.35.3-150300.10.27.1, …), 486 product×package rows across 59 product lines (Container bci/golang, Container bci/nodejs, … (59 product lines)): Fixed 431, Known Not Affected 55. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2023-25815/ |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2023-25815 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (git), 10 status rows across 10 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 9, ignored 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2023-25815 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| git_for_windows_project | git_for_windows | < 2.40.1 | cpe:2.3:a:git_for_windows_project:git_for_windows:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedoraproject | fedora | 37 | cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| fedoraproject | fedora | 38 | cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:38:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |