CVE-2020-5260

CRITICAL

Git < 2.17.4, 2.18.0-2.18.3 - Credential Leak via Encoded Newline in URL

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Exploitation Summary

EIP tracks 3 public exploits for CVE-2020-5260. PoCs published by brompwnie, sv3nbeast, Asgavar.

AI-analyzed exploit summary This repository contains a functional PoC for CVE-2020-5260, which exploits a vulnerability in Git's credential handling. The PoC deploys a malicious HTTP endpoint that tricks Git into leaking credentials via a crafted URL.

Description

Affected versions of Git have a vulnerability whereby Git can be tricked into sending private credentials to a host controlled by an attacker. Git uses external "credential helper" programs to store and retrieve passwords or other credentials from secure storage provided by the operating system. Specially-crafted URLs that contain an encoded newline can inject unintended values into the credential helper protocol stream, causing the credential helper to retrieve the password for one server (e.g., good.example.com) for an HTTP request being made to another server (e.g., evil.example.com), resulting in credentials for the former being sent to the latter. There are no restrictions on the relationship between the two, meaning that an attacker can craft a URL that will present stored credentials for any host to a host of their choosing. The vulnerability can be triggered by feeding a malicious URL to git clone. However, the affected URLs look rather suspicious; the likely vector would be through systems which automatically clone URLs not visible to the user, such as Git submodules, or package systems built around Git. The problem has been patched in the versions published on April 14th, 2020, going back to v2.17.x. Anyone wishing to backport the change further can do so by applying commit 9a6bbee (the full release includes extra checks for git fsck, but that commit is sufficient to protect clients against the vulnerability). The patched versions are: 2.17.4, 2.18.3, 2.19.4, 2.20.3, 2.21.2, 2.22.3, 2.23.2, 2.24.2, 2.25.3, 2.26.1.

Exploits (3)

nomisec WORKING POC 38 stars
by brompwnie · poc
https://github.com/brompwnie/cve-2020-5260

This repository contains a functional PoC for CVE-2020-5260, which exploits a vulnerability in Git's credential handling. The PoC deploys a malicious HTTP endpoint that tricks Git into leaking credentials via a crafted URL.

Classification
Working Poc 90%
Attack Type
Info Leak
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Git (versions prior to fix for CVE-2020-5260)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Victim must execute a crafted 'git clone' command
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →
nomisec WORKING POC 11 stars
by sv3nbeast · poc
https://github.com/sv3nbeast/CVE-2020-5260

This repository demonstrates CVE-2020-5260, a Git credential injection vulnerability where crafted URLs can manipulate the host and protocol fields in credential storage. The PoC includes a Go-based HTTP server that logs leaked credentials when Git attempts to authenticate.

Classification
Working Poc 95%
Attack Type
Info Leak
Complexity
Trivial
Reliability
Reliable
Target: Git (versions prior to fix for CVE-2020-5260)
No auth needed
Prerequisites: Victim must execute a crafted Git clone command with a malicious URL
devstral-2 · analyzed Feb 18, 2026 Full analysis →

References (19)

Core 19
Core References
Mitigation, Patch, Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://github.com/git/git/security/advisories/GHSA-qm7j-c969-7j4q
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_debian
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4657
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/04/msg00010.html
Mailing List mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/04/15/5
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/04/15/6
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_suse
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-04/msg00027.html
Third Party Advisory x_refsource_confirm
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT211141
Mailing List, Third Party Advisory mailing-list x_refsource_mlist
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/04/20/1
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_gentoo
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202004-13
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_ubuntu
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4329-1/
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_suse
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-05/msg00003.html

Scores

CVSS v3 9.3
EPSS 0.1005
EPSS Percentile 95.0%
Attack Vector NETWORK
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

Details

CWE
CWE-20 CWE-522
Status published
Products (12)
canonical/ubuntu_linux 16.04
canonical/ubuntu_linux 18.04
canonical/ubuntu_linux 19.10
debian/debian_linux 8.0
debian/debian_linux 9.0
debian/debian_linux 10.0
fedoraproject/fedora 30
fedoraproject/fedora 31
fedoraproject/fedora 32
git/git < 2.17.4
... and 2 more
Published Apr 14, 2020
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026