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Information ExposureWeakness · CWE-200

CVE-2024-53858

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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
The gh cli is GitHub’s official command line tool. A security vulnerability has been identified in the GitHub CLI that could leak authentication tokens when cloning repositories containing `git` submodules hosted outside of GitHub.com and ghe.com. This vulnerability stems from several `gh` commands used to clone a repository with submodules from a non-GitHub host including `gh repo clone`, `gh repo fork`, and `gh pr checkout`. These GitHub CLI commands invoke git with instructions to retrieve authentication tokens using the `credential.helper` configuration variable for any host encountered. Prior to version `2.63.0`, hosts other than GitHub.com and ghe.com are treated as GitHub Enterprise Server hosts and have tokens sourced from the following environment variables before falling back to host-specific tokens stored within system-specific secured storage: 1. `GITHUB_ENTERPRISE_TOKEN`, 2. `GH_ENTERPRISE_TOKEN` and 3. `GITHUB_TOKEN` when the `CODESPACES` environment variable is set. The result being `git` sending authentication tokens when cloning submodules. In version `2.63.0`, these GitHub CLI commands will limit the hosts for which `gh` acts as a credential helper to source authentication tokens. Additionally, `GITHUB_TOKEN` will only be used for GitHub.com and ghe.com. Users are advised to upgrade. Additionally users are advised to revoke authentication tokens used with the GitHub CLI and to review their personal security log and any relevant audit logs for actions associated with their account or enterprise

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 confidence

The GitHub CLI (gh) leaks authentication tokens when cloning repositories containing git submodules from non-GitHub hosts. Prior to v2.63.0, the CLI incorrectly treated external hosts as GitHub Enterprise Server hosts and forwarded tokens from GITHUB_ENTERPRISE_TOKEN, GH_ENTERPRISE_TOKEN, and GITHUB_TOKEN (when CODESPACES is set) to those external hosts via git's credential helper mechanism.

MitigationUpgrade GitHub CLI to version 2.63.0 or later, then revoke potentially exposed authentication tokens and review security/audit logs for unauthorized access.

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
Local
Complexity
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
Low

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

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed gh CLI version
    Run 'gh --version' and compare the version number to the affected range (versions prior to v2.63.0)
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 2.63.0
  2. Identify repositories with git submodules
    Run 'git submodule status' in repository directories to list configured submodules
    Affected if Any repository contains git submodules
  3. Inspect submodule remote URLs for external hosts
    Run 'git submodule foreach --quiet 'git remote -v'' to list all submodule remote URLs, then identify any URLs that are not GitHub.com or GitHub Enterprise Server hosts
    Affected if Any submodule points to a non-GitHub host (such as bitbucket.org, gitlab.com, or self-hosted git servers)
  4. Verify presence of sensitive tokens in environment
    Check if any of these environment variables are set: GITHUB_ENTERPRISE_TOKEN, GH_ENTERPRISE_TOKEN, or GITHUB_TOKEN (when CODESPACES environment variable is present). Use 'env | grep -E "(GITHUB_ENTERPRISE_TOKEN|GH_ENTERPRISE_TOKEN|GITHUB_TOKEN|CODESPACES)"'
    Affected if One or more of these tokens are present in the environment while using vulnerable gh version with external submodules

You are affected if gh version is below 2.63.0 AND you have cloned repositories containing git submodules from non-GitHub hosts while any enterprise or GitHub token is set in your environment.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade GitHub CLI to version 2.63.0 or later, then revoke potentially exposed authentication tokens and review security/audit logs for unauthorized access.

Recommended fix High confidence

2.63.0

  1. Upgrade GitHub CLI to version 2.63.0 or later by running: gh upgrade or downloading the latest release from github.com/cli/cli/releases
  2. After upgrading, revoke any authentication tokens that were previously used with the GitHub CLI as a precautionary security measure
  3. Review your personal security log and any relevant enterprise audit logs for suspicious actions associated with your account or organization

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
4.0 hours of engineering $750
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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-2024-53858 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data