CVE-2022-41953
Git clone remote code execution vulnerability in git-for-windows
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- GitHub_M
Description
Git GUI is a convenient graphical tool that comes with Git for Windows. Its target audience is users who are uncomfortable with using Git on the command-line. Git GUI has a function to clone repositories. Immediately after the local clone is available, Git GUI will automatically post-process it, among other things running a spell checker called `aspell.exe` if it was found. Git GUI is implemented as a Tcl/Tk script. Due to the unfortunate design of Tcl on Windows, the search path when looking for an executable _always includes the current directory_. Therefore, malicious repositories can ship with an `aspell.exe` in their top-level directory which is executed by Git GUI without giving the user a chance to inspect it first, i.e. running untrusted code. This issue has been addressed in version 2.39.1. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should avoid using Git GUI for cloning. If that is not a viable option, at least avoid cloning from untrusted sources.
Timeline
ID reserved
By GitHub_M
- 4 months later
· 4 months later
Published
- 2 years later
· 2 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| GitHub_MCNA (assigner) | 3.1 | High8.6 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H |
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | High7.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 8.0% · top 5.2% of all CVEs (7 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: total
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 8.6.
Weakness
Affected products
- affected < 2.39.1
References (4)
- https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/security/advisories/GHSA-v4px-mx59-w99c (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/pull/4219 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/commit/7360767e8dfc1895a932324079f7d45d7791d39f (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.6/TclCmd/exec.html#M23 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2022-41953)Record last updated .