CVE intelligence and bounded remediation
CVE-2015-8968 — git-fastclone before 1.0.1 permits arbitrary shell command execution from .gitmodules
git-fastclone before 1.0.1 permits arbitrary shell command execution from .gitmodules. If an attacker can instruct a user to run a recursive clone from a repository they control, they can get a client to run an arbitrary shell command. Alternately, if an attacker can MITM an unencrypted git clone, they could exploit this. The ext command will be run if the repository is recursively cloned or if submodules are updated. This attack works when cloning both local and remote repositories.
- Severity
- High
- CVSS
- 9.3 (2.0)
- Published
- 2016-11-03
- CISA KEV
- Not currently listed
- Ecosystem
- software/application
- Weaknesses
- CWE-77
Affected products
- squareup / git-fastclone
Matched remediation archetype
Command, code, expression, and template injection
This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.
Check exposure
- Trace untrusted values to process execution, interpreters, evaluators, template engines, dynamic imports, and administrative scripting features.
- Determine whether the affected path is reachable across each trust boundary and which service account or host privilege it inherits.
- Review configuration for optional execution features, unsafe compatibility modes, and shell invocation.
Remediate safely
- Replace string-built commands or evaluated code with fixed operations and structured argument APIs that do not invoke a shell.
- Use strict allowlists for operation identifiers and reject unexpected input before it reaches any interpreter.
- Update the affected component and add inert regression tests covering metacharacters, encoding variants, and alternate request paths.
Authoritative sources
Complete CVE record and remediation plan
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