gitoxide CVE-2026-82248

Exploitation requires all of the following conditions to be simultaneously true: the victim must be running gitoxide (gix-worktree-state) on Windows; core.symlinks must be set to true (non-default on Windows, must be explicitly configured); the checkout must be incremental rather than a fresh materialization (destination_is_initially_empty: false); and the victim must clone or check out an attacker-controlled repository containing the crafted two-phase symlink/regular-file entry sequence at the same path. Exploitation is limited to Windows due to the NTFS reparse-point mechanism; Linux and macOS users of gitoxide are not affected. The requirement for user-initiated checkout of a malicious repository (UI:P in CVSS 4.0) is an additional friction point that limits opportunistic mass exploitation.

The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:H/AT:P/PR:N/UI:P, score 6.0) accurately reflects the multi-condition nature of exploitation: network-delivered payload requires high attack complexity, a specific prerequisite configuration (AT:P - core.symlinks=true on Windows), and passive user interaction (the victim must perform a checkout of a malicious repository). The integrity impact to the vulnerable system is rated High (VI:H), meaning successful exploitation yields arbitrary file write, which is a severe primitive - capable of enabling code execution if writeable paths include startup items, DLL directories, or configuration files. However, the real-world risk is meaningfully constrained: gitoxide is a niche Rust-native git client with limited enterprise deployment, core.symlinks is not the default on Windows, and the attack requires a two-phase checkout sequence that only triggers during incremental (not fresh) materializations. No KEV listing and no public POC further reduce near-term exploitation probability. The EPSS score is not provided in the input data, so exploitation probability cannot be quantified numerically. The scope is limited to Windows environments running gitoxide with symlinks explicitly enabled; organizations using standard git-for-windows or libgit2-based tooling are unaffected.

An attacker publishes a malicious Git repository containing two entries at the same path P: first a symlink entry (mode 120000) whose target resolves to a sensitive path outside the worktree (e.g., a Windows startup folder or application DLL directory), and then a regular-file entry (mode 100644) with attacker-controlled blob content. A Windows developer using gitoxide with core.symlinks=true performs an incremental checkout of that repository - the first pass creates the reparse point, and the second pass writes the blob content through the reparse point to the external path, potentially overwriting a legitimate file and enabling persistent code execution. No public POC is known at time of analysis.