CVE-2024-50338
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 · uneditedGit Credential Manager (GCM) is a secure Git credential helper built on .NET that runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. The Git credential protocol is text-based over standard input/output, and consists of a series of lines of key-value pairs in the format `key=value`. Git's documentation restricts the use of the NUL (`\0`) character and newlines to form part of the keys or values. When Git reads from standard input, it considers both LF and CRLF as newline characters for the credential protocol by virtue of calling `strbuf_getline` that calls to `strbuf_getdelim_strip_crlf`. Git also validates that a newline is not present in the value by checking for the presence of the line-feed character (LF, `\n`), and errors if this is the case. This captures both LF and CRLF-type newlines. Git Credential Manager uses the .NET standard library `StreamReader` class to read the standard input stream line-by-line and parse the `key=value` credential protocol format. The implementation of the `ReadLineAsync` method considers LF, CRLF, and CR as valid line endings. This is means that .NET considers a single CR as a valid newline character, whereas Git does not. This mismatch of newline treatment between Git and GCM means that an attacker can craft a malicious remote URL. When a user clones or otherwise interacts with a malicious repository that requires authentication, the attacker can capture credentials for another Git remote. The attack is also heightened when cloning from repositories with submodules when using the `--recursive` clone option as the user is not able to inspect the submodule remote URLs beforehand. This issue has been patched in version 2.6.1 and all users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade should only interact with trusted remote repositories, and not clone with `--recursive` to allow inspection of any submodule URLs before cloning those submodules.
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 · high confidenceGit Credential Manager (GCM) has a newline handling mismatch with Git. While Git rejects newlines (LF/CRLF) in credential values, .NET's StreamReader treats CR alone as a valid line ending. This allows attackers to craft malicious repository URLs containing CR characters that bypass Git's validation, enabling credential theft when users authenticate to the malicious remote.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
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
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Git Credential Manager versionRun 'git credential-manager --version' or 'gcm --version' in the command lineAffected if Version is below 2.6.1 (e.g., 2.6.0 or earlier)
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Verify GCM is the configured credential helperRun 'git config --get credential.helper' to see which credential helper is in useAffected if Output shows 'manager' or 'manager-core' (Git Credential Manager is active)
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Confirm .NET StreamReader behavior on your systemThis is inherent to the GCM version; no manual check needed - the vulnerability exists in .NET StreamReader's CR handling across affected GCM versionsAffected if GCM version is vulnerable (below 2.6.1) and the credential helper is active
You are affected if Git Credential Manager version is below 2.6.1 AND it is configured as your active credential helper, allowing potential CR character injection from malicious repository URLs during authentication.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 · scopedUpgrade Git Credential Manager to version 2.6.1 or later. If upgrading is not immediately possible, avoid interacting with untrusted repositories and do not use --recursive clone until submodules can be inspected.
version 2.6.1 or later
- 1. Identify your current Git Credential Manager installation method (e.g., standalone installer, package manager, or bundled with Git)
- 2. For standalone installations, download Git Credential Manager version 2.6.1 or later from the official GitHub releases page
- 3. For package manager installations (e.g., Homebrew, winget, Chocolatey), update the package to the latest version containing the fix
- 4. If using Git for Windows which bundles GCM, update Git for Windows to a version that includes GCM 2.6.1 or later
- 5. Verify the upgrade was successful by running 'git credential fill' and confirming the version or checking that the application starts without errors
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-50338 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-50338 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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