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CVSS estimates technical severity, but it does not automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, asset criticality, known exploitation, and whether compensating controls exist. A Medium CVSS on an exposed production system can be more urgent than a Critical on an isolated non-production host.

Vulnerability Database

Q: What is a Vulnerability (CVE) and why does it matter?

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

Q: What's the difference between a vulnerability, an exploit, and a zero-day?

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. Risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Q: Why do vulnerabilities keep reappearing in our environment?

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete asset discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host.

Q: How do we prioritize remediation without burning out the team?

Use a repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress so remediation is steady, not reactive.

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362,746

Total vulnerabilities in the database

GitPython unsafe clone option gate bypass through joined short options — GitPython

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an OS Command ('OS Command Injection')

GitPython version 3.1.50 blocks unsafe git clone options such as --upload-pack, -u, --config, and -c unless callers explicitly pass allow_unsafe_options=True. However, the default unsafe-option gate does not recognize joined short-option forms such as -u/path/to/helper.

Git itself accepts -u<upload-pack> as the short form of --upload-pack=<upload-pack>. As a result, Repo.clone_from(..., multi_options=["-u<helper>"], allow_unsafe_options=False) can execute the helper command even though the equivalent long option is blocked.

Affected package:

Ecosystem: PyPI
Package: GitPython
Confirmed affected version: 3.1.50
Repository: gitpython-developers/GitPython
Current PyPI version during triage: 3.1.50

Relevant behavior:

Repo.unsafe_git_clone_options correctly lists --upload-pack, -u, --config, and -c as unsafe clone options.
Repo._clone() splits multi_options with shlex.split(" ".join(multi_options)) and then calls Git.check_unsafe_options(...).
_canonicalize_option_name("-u/path/to/helper") returns a string beginning with u..., not the canonical short option u, so it does not match the blocked -u entry.
Git accepts the same joined short option as --upload-pack=<helper> and executes the helper during clone.

Preconditions:

An application must pass attacker-influenced clone options into Repo.clone_from(..., multi_options=...) while relying on GitPython's default unsafe-option gate to block command-executing options.

The local PoC uses only a local bare Git repository and a local helper script. It does not contact any third-party service.

Local reproduction:

The PoC creates a disposable bare Git repository, a helper script, and a sentinel file path. It first confirms that the long --upload-pack=<helper> form is blocked by GitPython. It then calls Repo.clone_from(..., multi_options=["-u<helper>"], allow_unsafe_options=False).

Observed sanitized output:

gitpython_version=3.1.50
git_version=git version 2.53.0.windows.1
tmp_dir=&lt;tmp&gt;
long_upload_pack_gate=BLOCKED:UnsafeOptionError
joined_short_upload_pack_gate=ALLOWED
clone_result=EXPECTED_EXCEPTION:GitCommandError
sentinel_exists=True
sentinel_text=GITPYTHON_UNSAFE_OPTION_BYPASS

The clone fails because the helper exits nonzero, but the sentinel file proves that Git executed the helper despite allow_unsafe_options=False.

Impact:

An attacker who controls multi_options can bypass GitPython's default allow_unsafe_options=False protection and execute a local command via Git's --upload-pack / -u clone option. This is a residual bypass of an explicit GitPython security boundary, not merely a case where a caller opted into unsafe behavior.

Duplicate / related advisory checks:

OSV query for PyPI/GitPython version 3.1.50 returned no vulnerabilities.
The repository's public advisories include related unsafe Git option issues, including GHSA-x2qx-6953-8485 / CVE-2026-42284 and GHSA-rpm5-65cw-6hj4 / CVE-2026-42215. Their public affected ranges are marked as fixed before 3.1.50.
GHSA-x2qx-6953-8485 describes validating multi_options before shlex.split(...). GitPython 3.1.50 now validates after splitting, but the joined short option -u<value> still bypasses because the validator canonicalizes it to u<value> rather than u.
GHSA-rpm5-65cw-6hj4 describes unsafe underscored kwargs such as upload_pack=.... The current PoC uses multi_options=["-u<helper>"] against 3.1.50 and does not depend on underscored kwargs.
GitHub issue search for upload-pack unsafe options found historical related items, including CVE-2022-24439 and the earlier unsafe-options gate work, but no public issue describing this current joined-short-option residual bypass in 3.1.50.
GitHub issue search for multi_options unsafe found PR #2130, which fixed splitting of multi_options before checking. The current issue remains after that split because -u<value> is treated as option name u<value>, not blocked short option u.
GitHub issue searches for u<upload-pack> unsafe and -cfoo returned no results.

Suggested remediation:

When checking unsafe Git options, parse joined short options that take values. For clone, -uVALUE and -cKEY=VALUE should be canonicalized to u and c respectively before comparing against the unsafe option set.

A safer approach is to maintain command-specific metadata for unsafe short options and recognize the bare option, split form, joined form, and long --option=<value> / --option <value> forms.

Published: Jul 21, 2026
Updated: Jul 22, 2026
GHSA: GHSA-v396-v7q4-x2qj
Severity: High
Exploit:
CISA KEV:

No technical information available.

CWEs:

CWE-78

OWASP TOP 10:

A1 - Injection

Affected Software
References

Software	From	Fixed in
GitPython	3.1.50	3.1.50.x
GitPython	3.1.50	3.1.51

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Vulnerability (CVE) and why does it matter?

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.