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GitApplication · Git Scm

CVE-2014-9390

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-02-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 0.21.3 / 1.8.5.6 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
High EPSS Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Git before 1.8.5.6, 1.9.x before 1.9.5, 2.0.x before 2.0.5, 2.1.x before 2.1.4, and 2.2.x before 2.2.1 on Windows and OS X; Mercurial before 3.2.3 on Windows and OS X; Apple Xcode before 6.2 beta 3; mine all versions before 08-12-2014; libgit2 all versions up to 0.21.2; Egit all versions before 08-12-2014; and JGit all versions before 08-12-2014 allow remote Git servers to execute arbitrary commands via a tree containing a crafted .git/config file with (1) an ignorable Unicode codepoint, (2) a git~1/config representation, or (3) mixed case that is improperly handled on a case-insensitive filesystem.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis
How this class of weakness works · CWE-20

The application accepts input without confirming it is well-formed or within expected bounds, so malformed data can push the program into states its author never anticipated. Attackers probe these gaps to trigger crashes, bypass logic, or feed tainted values into more dangerous operations downstream. Remediating it well means validating and normalising every input at the boundary against a strict allow-list — not merely filtering known-bad values.

General guidance for the improper input validation class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
GitApplication
Affected:< 1.8.5.6>= 1.9.0, < 1.9.5>= 2.0.0, < 2.0.5>= 2.1.0, < 2.1.4>= 2.2.0, < 2.2.1
MercurialApplication
Affected:< 3.2.3
XcodeApplication
Affected:<= 6.1.1= 6.2
EgitApplication
Affected:< 08-12-2014
JgitApplication
Affected:< 3.4.2>= 3.5.0, < 3.5.3
Libgit2Application
Affected:< 0.21.3

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 0.21.3 / 1.8.5.6 / 1.9.5 or later
Fixed in 0.21.31.8.5.61.9.5
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix High confidence

Git: 2.2.1+ (or 1.8.5.6/1.9.5/2.0.5/2.1.4 for older branches); Libgit2: 0.21.3+; JGit: 3.5.3+; Mercurial: 3.2.3+; Xcode: 6.2 beta 3+

  1. 1. Identify which Git-related tools are in use in your environment (Git command line, Libgit2, JGit, EGit, Mercurial, or Xcode)
  2. 2. For Git: Upgrade to version 1.8.5.6, 1.9.5, 2.0.5, 2.1.4, or 2.2.1 or later depending on your current major version branch
  3. 3. For Libgit2: Upgrade to version 0.21.3 or later
  4. 4. For JGit: Upgrade to version 3.4.2 or 3.5.3 or later
  5. 5. For EGit: Update to version released on or after 08-12-2014
  6. 6. For Mercurial: Upgrade to version 3.2.3 or later
  7. 7. For Xcode: Update to version 6.2 beta 3 or later
  8. 8. After upgrading, verify the fix by testing repository operations on case-insensitive filesystems (Windows/OS X)
Caveat Major version upgrades of Git may introduce subtle command behavior changes; review release notes for your target version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

We can perform the upgrade in your staging environment and verify nothing breaks — typical engagement from $2,300. Get the upgrade done

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-9390 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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