Dulwich's submodule path traversal in porcelain.submodule_update / porcelain.clone(recurse_submodules=True) yields RCE via attacker-dropped .git/hooks payload
Dulwich is a pure-Python implementation of the Git file formats and protocols. Starting in version 0.23.2 and prior to version 1.2.5, `dulwich.porcelain.submodule_update`, and by extension `porcelain.clone(..., recurse_submodules=True)`, materializes attacker-controlled submodule paths from a crafted upstream repository without path validation. A malicious `.gitmodules` plus a matching tree gitlink whose `path` is `.git/hooks` (or any other directory inside the parent repository's `.git` directory) causes the attacker's submodule tree contents to be written directly into the victim's `.git/hooks/` directory, preserving executable mode bits. The dropped executables are then run by any subsequent `git` or `dulwich` command that invokes the matching hook, resulting in arbitrary code execution. This is the dulwich equivalent of the upstream Git fixes for CVE-2024-32002 / CVE-2024-32004, which were never propagated into dulwich's separately implemented submodule porcelain. Version 1.2.5 patches the issue.
Problem Types
| Type | CWE ID | Description |
|---|
| CWE | CWE-22 | CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') |
Type: CWE
Description: CWE-22: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
Metrics
| Version | Base score | Base severity | Vector |
|---|
| 3.1 | 7.5 | HIGH | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
Version: 3.1
Base score: 7.5
Base severity: HIGH
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H