Untrusted search path on Windows systems leading to arbitrary code execution

{
  "id": "c8993df3b4f9c59ab5c82312c7b3af13a1e5a441a0cec7273b09b11622bd1ac6",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2023-40590",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "Untrusted search path on Windows systems leading to arbitrary code execution",
    "summary": "GitPython is a python library used to interact with Git repositories. When resolving a program, Python/Windows look for the current working directory, and after that the PATH environment. GitPython defaults to use the `git` command, if a user runs GitPython from a repo has a `git.exe` or `git` executable, that program will be run instead of the one in the user's `PATH`. This is more of a problem on how Python interacts with Windows systems, Linux and any other OS aren't affected by this. But probably people using GitPython usually run it from the CWD of a repo. An attacker can trick a user to download a repository with a malicious `git` executable, if the user runs/imports GitPython from that directory, it allows the attacker to run any arbitrary commands. There is no fix currently available for windows users, however there are a few mitigations. 1: Default to an absolute path for the git program on Windows, like `C:\\\\Program Files\\\\Git\\\\cmd\\\\git.EXE` (default git path installation). 2: Require users to set the `GIT_PYTHON_GIT_EXECUTABLE` environment variable on Windows systems. 3: Make this problem prominent in the documentation and advise users to never run GitPython from an untrusted repo, or set the `GIT_PYTHON_GIT_EXECUTABLE` env var to an absolute path. 4: Resolve the executable manually by only looking into the `PATH` environment variable.",
    "evidence": "osv:CVE-2023-40590",
    "products": [],
    "severity": "high",
    "structured": {
      "id": "CVE-2023-40590",
      "aliases": [
        "CVE-2023-40590",
        "GHSA-wfm5-v35h-vwf4",
        "PYSEC-2023-161"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "repo": "https://github.com/gitpython-developers/gitpython",
              "type": "GIT",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "last_affected": "5d45ce243a12669724e969442e6725a894e30fd4"
                }
              ],
              "database_specific": {
                "extracted_events": [
                  {
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0"
                      },
                      {
                        "last_affected": "3.1.32"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "AFFECTED_FIELD",
                    "strategy": "StringRangeExpression"
                  },
                  {
                    "cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:gitpython_project:gitpython:*:*:*:*:*:python:*:*",
                    "range": [
                      {
                        "introduced": "0"
                      },
                      {
                        "last_affected": "3.1.32"
                      }
                    ],
                    "source": "CPE_RANGE"
                  }
                ]
              }
            }
          ],
          "versions": [
            "3.1.32",
            "3.1.31",
            "3.1.30",
            "3.1.29",
            "3.1.28",
            "3.1.27",
            "3.1.26",
            "3.1.25",
            "3.1.24",
            "3.1.23",
            "3.1.22",
            "3.1.20",
            "3.1.19",
            "3.1.18",
            "3.1.17",
            "3.1.16",
            "3.1.13",
            "3.1.12",
            "3.1.11",
            "3.1.10",
            "3.1.9",
            "3.1.8",
            "3.1.7",
            "3.1.6",
            "3.1.5",
            "3.1.4",
            "3.1.3",
            "3.1.2",
            "3.1.1",
            "3.1.0",
            "3.0.9",
            "3.0.8",
            "3.0.7",
            "3.0.6",
            "3.0.5",
            "3.0.4",
            "3.0.3",
            "3.0.2",
            "3.0.1",
            "2.1.13",
            "3.0.0",
            "2.1.12",
            "2.1.11",
            "2.1.10",
            "2.1.9",
            "2.1.8",
            "2.1.6",
            "2.1.5",
            "2.1.4",
            "2.1.3",
            "2.1.2",
            "2.1.1",
            "2.1.0",
            "2.0.9",
            "winerr_show",
            "2.0.8",
            "2.0.7",
            "2.0.6",
            "2.0.5",
            "2.0.4",
            "2.0.3",
            "2.0.2",
            "2.0.1",
            "2.0.0",
            "0.3.2.1",
            "1.0.2",
            "0.3.7",
            "1.0.1",
            "1.0.0",
            "0.3.6",
            "0.3.5",
            "0.3.4",
            "0.3.3",
            "0.3.2",
            "0.3.2-RC1",
            "0.3.1-beta2",
            "0.3.1-beta1",
            "0.3.0-beta2",
            "0.3.0-beta1",
            "0.2.0-beta1",
            "0.1.6",
            "0.1.5",
            "0.1.4",
            "0.1.4-pre"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2023-40590.json"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:30.633295286Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "references": [
        "https://docs.python.org/3/library/subprocess.html#popen-constructor",
        "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/40xxx/CVE-2023-40590.json",
        "https://github.com/gitpython-developers/GitPython/security/advisories/GHSA-wfm5-v35h-vwf4",
        "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-40590"
      ],
      "provider_metadata": {
        "cwe_ids": [
          "CWE-426"
        ],
        "cna_assigner": "GitHub_M",
        "osv_generated_from": "https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/40xxx/CVE-2023-40590.json"
      }
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2023-40590",
        "evidence": "/id"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 497559,
  "published_at": "2023-08-28T17:24:09.965+00:00"
}