mingw: skip symlink type auto-detection for network share targets

On Windows, symbolic links come in two flavors: file symlinks and
directory symlinks.  Since Git was born on Linux where this distinction
does not exist, Git for Windows has to auto-detect the type by looking
at the target.  When the target does not yet exist at symlink creation
time, Git for Windows creates a "phantom" file symlink and later, once
checkout is complete, calls `CreateFileW()` on the target to check
whether it is actually a directory.

If the symlink target is a UNC path (e.g. `\\attacker\share`), this
auto-detection triggers an SMB connection to the remote host.  Windows
performs NTLM authentication by default for such connections, which
means a crafted repository can exfiltrate the cloning user's NTLMv2 hash
to an attacker-controlled server without any user interaction beyond
`git clone -c core.symlinks=true <url>`.

There are ways to specify UNC paths that start with only a single
backslash (e.g. `\??\UNC\host\share`); All of them do start like that,
though, so let's use that as a tell-tale that we should skip the
auto-detection in `process_phantom_symlink()`. The symlink is then left
as a file symlink (the `mklink` default), and a warning is emitted
suggesting the user set the `symlink` gitattribute to `dir` if a
directory symlink is needed.  When the attribute is already set,
auto-detection is never invoked in the first place, so that code path is
unaffected.

This is the same class of vulnerability as CVE-2025-66413
(https://github.com/git-for-windows/git/security/advisories/GHSA-hv9c-4jm9-jh3x)
and follows the same general mitigation pattern that MinTTY adopted for
ANSI escape sequences referencing network share paths
(https://github.com/mintty/mintty/security/advisories/GHSA-jf4m-m6rv-p6c5).

Note that there are legitimate paths starting with a single backslash
that are _not_ network paths: drive-less absolute paths are interpreted
as relative to the current working directory's drive. In practice, these
are highly uncommon (and brittle, just one working directory change away
from breaking). In any case, the only consequence is now that the
symlink type of those has to be specified via Git attributes, is all.

Reported-by: Justin Lee <jessdhoctor@gmail.com>
Addresses: CVE-2026-32631
Assisted-by: Claude Opus 4.6
Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
1 file changed
tree: ce0599b8f630055cb89eb29dc6b4002f1ea82732
  1. .github/
  2. bin-wrappers/
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  400. README.md
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  445. SECURITY.md
  446. send-pack.c
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  448. sequencer.c
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  450. serve.c
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  452. server-info.c
  453. server-info.h
  454. setup.c
  455. setup.h
  456. sh-i18n--envsubst.c
  457. sha1dc_git.c
  458. sha1dc_git.h
  459. shallow.c
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  461. shared.mak
  462. shell.c
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  464. sideband.c
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  466. sigchain.c
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  468. simple-ipc.h
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  471. split-index.c
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  473. stable-qsort.c
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  484. sub-process.c
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  486. submodule-config.c
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  490. symlinks.c
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  495. tempfile.c
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  520. unix-stream-server.c
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  524. upload-pack.c
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  526. url.c
  527. url.h
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  542. walker.c
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  544. wildmatch.c
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  550. write-or-die.c
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  552. ws.c
  553. ws.h
  554. wt-status.c
  555. wt-status.h
  556. xdiff-interface.c
  557. xdiff-interface.h
README.md

GitHub build status GitLab build status

Git - fast, scalable, distributed revision control system

Git is a fast, scalable, distributed revision control system with an unusually rich command set that provides both high-level operations and full access to internals.

Git is an Open Source project covered by the GNU General Public License version 2 (some parts of it are under different licenses, compatible with the GPLv2). It was originally written by Linus Torvalds with help of a group of hackers around the net.

Please read the file INSTALL for installation instructions.

Many Git online resources are accessible from https://git-scm.com/ including full documentation and Git related tools.

See Documentation/gittutorial.adoc to get started, then see Documentation/giteveryday.adoc for a useful minimum set of commands, and Documentation/git-<commandname>.adoc for documentation of each command. If git has been correctly installed, then the tutorial can also be read with man gittutorial or git help tutorial, and the documentation of each command with man git-<commandname> or git help <commandname>.

CVS users may also want to read Documentation/gitcvs-migration.adoc (man gitcvs-migration or git help cvs-migration if git is installed).

The user discussion and development of Git take place on the Git mailing list -- everyone is welcome to post bug reports, feature requests, comments and patches to git@vger.kernel.org (read Documentation/SubmittingPatches for instructions on patch submission and Documentation/CodingGuidelines).

Those wishing to help with error message, usage and informational message string translations (localization l10) should see po/README.md (a po file is a Portable Object file that holds the translations).

To subscribe to the list, send an email to git+subscribe@vger.kernel.org (see https://subspace.kernel.org/subscribing.html for details). The mailing list archives are available at https://lore.kernel.org/git/, https://marc.info/?l=git and other archival sites.

Issues which are security relevant should be disclosed privately to the Git Security mailing list git-security@googlegroups.com.

The maintainer frequently sends the “What's cooking” reports that list the current status of various development topics to the mailing list. The discussion following them give a good reference for project status, development direction and remaining tasks.

The name “git” was given by Linus Torvalds when he wrote the very first version. He described the tool as “the stupid content tracker” and the name as (depending on your mood):

  • random three-letter combination that is pronounceable, and not actually used by any common UNIX command. The fact that it is a mispronunciation of “get” may or may not be relevant.
  • stupid. contemptible and despicable. simple. Take your pick from the dictionary of slang.
  • “global information tracker”: you're in a good mood, and it actually works for you. Angels sing, and a light suddenly fills the room.
  • “goddamn idiotic truckload of sh*t”: when it breaks