CVE-2020-5260
mediumpriority · track · 43EPSS 0.100 · 96 %ileexploit · PoCDEEURUUSEPSS · scored 2026-10-27
Affected versions of Git have a vulnerability whereby Git can be tricked into sending private credentials to a host controlled by an attacker. Git uses external "credential helper" programs to store and retrieve passwords or other credentials from secure storage provided by the operating system. Specially-crafted URLs that contain an encoded newline can inject unintended values into the credential helper protocol stream, causing the credential helper to retrieve the password for one server (e.g., good.example.com) for an HTTP request being made to another server (e.g., evil.example.com), resulting in credentials for the former being sent to the latter. There are no restrictions on the relationship between the two, meaning that an attacker can craft a URL that will present stored credentials for any host to a host of their choosing. The vulnerability can be triggered by feeding a malicious URL to git clone. However, the affected URLs look rather suspicious; the likely vector would be through systems which automatically clone URLs not visible to the user, such as Git submodules, or package systems built around Git. The problem has been patched in the versions published on April 14th, 2020, going back to v2.17.x. Anyone wishing to backport the change further can do so by applying commit 9a6bbee (the full release includes extra checks for git fsck, but that commit is sufficient to protect clients against the vulnerability). The patched versions are: 2.17.4, 2.18.3, 2.19.4, 2.20.3, 2.21.2, 2.22.3, 2.23.2, 2.24.2, 2.25.3, 2.26.1.
cvss
Technical severity, 0–10. One row per scoring source.
base score 0–10 · higher = more severe · hover a vector to decode⚠ sources disagree · medium–critical · 4.3–9.3
weaknesses
The CWE weakness classes this flaw belongs to.
exploits (3)
Public proof-of-concept and weaponised exploit code.
- sv3nbeast/CVE-2020-5260CVE-2020-5260演示记录PoC · poc_in_github
affected products (58)
Products and version ranges known to be affected.
advisories (3)
Vendor and ecosystem advisories describing this.
- WID-SEC-W-2025-0189git: Schwachstelle ermöglicht Offenlegung von InformationenDeutsch2020-04-14csaf · cert_bundDE
Ein entfernter, anonymer Angreifer kann eine Schwachstelle in git ausnutzen, um Anmeldeinformationen offenzulegen.
- WID-SEC-W-2025-1905IBM QRadar SIEM Komponente: Mehrere SchwachstellenDeutsch2025-08-25csaf · cert_bundDE
Ein Angreifer kann mehrere Schwachstellen in IBM QRadar SIEM Komponenten ausnutzen, um Daten zu manipulieren, um einen Denial of Service Angriff durchzuführen, um beliebigen Programmcode auszuführen, um Sicherheitsvorkehrungen zu umgehen, und um Informationen offenzulegen.
- BIT-git-2020-5260malicious URLs may cause Git to present stored credentials to the wrong server2024-03-06vendor · osvUS
Affected versions of Git have a vulnerability whereby Git can be tricked into sending private credentials to a host controlled by an attacker. Git uses external "credential helper" programs to store and retrieve passwords or other credentials from secure storage provided by the operating system. Specially-crafted URLs that contain an encoded newline can inject unintended values into the credential helper protocol stream, causing the credential helper to retrieve the password for one server (e.g., good.example.com) for an HTTP request being made to another server (e.g., evil.example.com), resulting in credentials for the former being sent to the latter. There are no restrictions on the relationship between the two, meaning that an attacker can craft a URL that will present stored credentials for any host to a host of their choosing. The vulnerability can be triggered by feeding a malicious URL to git clone. However, the affected URLs look rather suspicious; the likely vector would be through systems which automatically clone URLs not visible to the user, such as Git submodules, or package systems built around Git. The problem has been patched in the versions published on April 14th, 2020, going back to v2.17.x. Anyone wishing to backport the change further can do so by applying commit 9a6bbee (the full release includes extra checks for git fsck, but that commit is sufficient to protect clients against the vulnerability). The patched versions are: 2.17.4, 2.18.3, 2.19.4, 2.20.3, 2.21.2, 2.22.3, 2.23.2, 2.24.2, 2.25.3, 2.26.1.
also known as (4)
Other names and identifiers for this entity.
sources
Which sources assert this record, and when.
references (72)
External citations — patches, advisories, analysis.
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-04/msg00027.htmlcnnvd
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-05/msg00003.htmlcnnvd
- http://www.nsfocus.net/vulndb/46448cnnvd
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/04/15/5cnnvd
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/04/15/6cnnvd
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/04/20/1cnnvd
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2020-5260cnnvd
- https://github.com/git/git/commit/9a6bbee8006c24b46a85d29e7b38cfa79e9ab21bcnnvd
Attackers weaponise vulnerabilities like this against internet-exposed services. See what is exposed on your perimeter with a free passive scan.
Free scan