Sign inStart freeBook a demo

What is CVE-2020-5260?A high-severity flaw in Git, explained.

High severity6 affected products
The short answer

CVE-2020-5260 is a high-severity flaw (CVSS 7.5) in Git, published on 14 April 2020. It is not on the list of flaws known to be exploited today. The latest forecast puts its chance of use in the next 30 days at 10.0%. If you run an affected version, plan in the vendor’s fix.

Check if it affects you →How to fix it

Published 14 April 2020. Record last updated 7 November 2023. We keep this page's data up to date.

What it does

What is CVE-2020-5260? In plain terms.

It can be attacked from anywhere on the internet without logging in, and nobody has to click anything. If it works, the attacker can read data.

The official 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.

What kind of flaw is it?

  • CWE-522Insufficiently Protected Credentials
  • CWE-20Improper Input Validation
CVSS 3.1 scoreHigh · 7.5

How an attack on it works

Read straight from its severity rating, translated out of the shorthand.

  • Where an attacker can beAnywhere on the internet
  • How hard it is to pull offEasy: no special conditions
  • Login needed firstNo login needed
  • Does someone have to clickNo, nobody has to do anything
  • What an attacker getsCan read data

Severity vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Exploitation

Is CVE-2020-5260 being exploited? Not that we know of.

It is not on the list of flaws known to be exploited today. The latest forecast puts the chance of it being used in the next 30 days at 10.0%. That can change at any time, which is why we keep watching.

Known to be exploitedNoNot on the list of exploited flaws today
Chance of use in the next 30 days10.0%Its EPSS score, from the latest forecast

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. Record last updated
  3. Exploit likelihood fell
  4. Exploit likelihood jumped
How Precursor Intelligence ranks it
52out of 100Medium

CVE-2020-5260 scores 52. Action: Plan remediation.

We keep the score of every published flaw up to date as the evidence changes. Four things go into the score, and evidence that criminals are actually using it counts most. In order:

  • Evidence it is being exploitedBiggest factor
  • How severe it isStrong factor
  • How widely exposed it isSmaller factor
  • Threat activity around itSmaller factor

85 and above is Critical. Anything confirmed as exploited is always marked for an emergency patch, whatever its score.

When CVE-2020-5260 matches software you track, it lands in your list with its score and the reasons behind it.

See your own ranked list →
Affected products

Who is affected by CVE-2020-5260? 6 products.

The published record lists 6 products from 6 vendors. Versions are shown as published: "before 2.17.4" means every version up to, but not including, 2.17.4. If you run one of these, check your version, then go to the fix below.

  • Application

    Git

    by Git

    Affected versions
    before 2.17.42.22.0 to before 2.22.3
  • Application

    Git

    by Git-Scm

    Affected versions
    2.18.0 to before 2.18.32.19.0 to before 2.19.42.20.0 to before 2.20.32.21.0 to before 2.21.22.23.0 to before 2.23.22.24.0 to before 2.24.2
  • Operating system

    Debian Linux

    by Debian

    Affected versions
    8.09.010.0
  • Operating system

    Fedora

    by Fedoraproject

    Affected versions
    303132
  • Operating system

    Ubuntu Linux

    by Canonical

    Affected versions
    16.0418.0419.10
  • Operating system

    Leap

    by Opensuse

    Affected versions
    15.1
Remediation

How do I fix CVE-2020-5260? Four steps.

  1. Check whether you run itCompare your versions with the affected products above. Not sure what you run? Precursor Intelligence can work it out from your public website, or you can pick it from a list.
  2. Apply the vendor’s fixInstall the update named in the vendor’s advisory. We’ve put the advisories and patch notes first in the list.
  3. If you can’t patch todayFollow any mitigation the vendor publishes, and limit who can reach the affected system from the internet until the update is in.
  4. Keep an eye on itTrack the product and we tell you as soon as we spot this flaw on the list of exploited flaws, or a jump in its exploit likelihood.

References

19 links
Precursor Intelligence

Does CVE-2020-5260 affect you? We'll keep checking.

Looking flaws up one at a time doesn't scale. Tell us what you run once, and we tell you which flaws matter to you, in what order, and keep watching for new ones.

  1. Tell us what you runPick your software from a list, or let us work it out from your website.
  2. We match it to every flawOver 400,000 published flaws, checked against your list.
  3. Ranked by real-world riskA 0 to 100 score, led by evidence criminals are using it.
  4. Told as soon as we knowAn alert by email, in the app or by webhook to your own tools.
Start free →Book a demo

Free plan, no card needed. Nothing to install.

FAQ

Common questions, answered plainly.

Something else? Talk to the team →

CVE-2020-5260 is a high-severity flaw in Git, published on 14 April 2020. It can be attacked from anywhere on the internet without logging in, and nobody has to click anything. If it works, the attacker can read data.

It scores 7.5 out of 10 on the CVSS severity scale, which is high. Our risk score for CVE-2020-5260 is 52 out of 100, which is Medium. Its action is "Plan remediation". No sign of exploitation and a low forecast. Patch it in your normal update cycle.

It is not on the list of flaws known to be exploited today. The latest forecast puts the chance of it being used in the next 30 days at 10.0%. That can change at any time, which is why we keep watching.

For Git: before 2.17.4, 2.22.0 to before 2.22.3. The record lists 6 products in all, each with its versions, under "Who is affected" on this page.

Install the update the vendor names in its advisory, linked first under "How do I fix" on this page. If you can't patch today, follow the vendor's mitigation and limit who can reach the affected system from the internet.

Keep exploring