CVE-2023-29011

HIGH

Git for Windows < 2.40.1 - Uncontrolled Search Path Element via connect.exe Config File

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

Git for Windows, the Windows port of Git, ships with an executable called `connect.exe`, which implements a SOCKS5 proxy that can be used to connect e.g. to SSH servers via proxies when certain ports are blocked for outgoing connections. The location of `connect.exe`'s config file is hard-coded as `/etc/connectrc` which will typically be interpreted as `C:\etc\connectrc`. Since `C:\etc` can be created by any authenticated user, this makes `connect.exe` susceptible to malicious files being placed there by other users on the same multi-user machine. The problem has been patched in Git for Windows v2.40.1. As a workaround, create the folder `etc` on all drives where Git commands are run, and remove read/write access from those folders. Alternatively, watch out for malicious `<drive>:\etc\connectrc` files on multi-user machines.

References (2)

Core 2

Scores

CVSS v3 7.5
EPSS 0.0038
EPSS Percentile 29.8%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CISA SSVC

Vulnrichment
Exploitation none
Automatable no
Technical Impact total

Details

CWE
CWE-427
Status published
Products (1)
git_for_windows_project/git_for_windows < 2.40.1
Published Apr 25, 2023
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026