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Re: Bare repositories in the working tree are a security risk

From
Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com>
Date
Apr 16, 2022, 01:00 UTC
Message-ID
<YloVFn0SC/SF33b3@nand.local>
In-Reply-To
<kl6l5yn99ahv.fsf@chooglen-macbookpro.roam.corp.google.com>
On Fri, Apr 15, 2022 at 04:45:32PM -0700, Glen Choo wrote:
Show 26 quoted lines
> However, this case shows that --git-dir won't work at all with "git
> init", and I wouldn't be surprised if there are other breakages hiding
> just out of plain sight. This worries me a lot more, and I think
> disabling bare repo detection wholesale might be a nonstarter.
>
> I wonder if all we need to do is make setup.c a little smarter - we
> recognize bare repos, but *only* if they are contained in a directory
> named `.git/`. This should fix "git init" I think, because even though
> we'd ignore "./ (bare)", we'd recognize `../.git/` and we get the right
> behavior again.
>
> I haven't tested it yet, but this proposal sounds like it has quite a
> few merits to me:
>
> - Easy to explain.
> - Easy rationalization ("We used to be quite cavalier about detecting
>   bare repos, but now we're being more strict by default").
> - Fixes the embedded bare repo problem (since we don't allow .git).
> - No-op and neglible performance hit for non-bare repo users, even if
>   they occasionally run "git" inside ".git".
>
> As with the original proposal of "ignore bare repos altogether", this
> will still be a headache for bare repo users (unless they don't mind
> renaming their bare repo directory to ".git"), so this behavior needs to
> be configurable, but perhaps the fallout is small enough that this
> could be a safe default.

I think you are underestimating the fallout, at least if I'm understanding your proposal correctly.

Is the proposal to only detect bare repositories that are called `.git`? I think that's what you're suggesting, though can't we just as easily embed a bare repository named ".git" in a clone as long as its not in the root directory?

But like I said in an earlier message, I think that this is vastly underestimating the number of legitimate repositories that are stored as bare repos on disk (not embedded in a non-bare repo, nor named ".git").

Thanks, Taylor

Previous: Glen ChooNext: Junio C Hamano
Message 33 of 50 in “Bare repositories in the working tree are a security risk”
  1. Glen ChooApr 6, 2022
  2. fsck: detect bare repos in trees and warnGlen Choo, Apr 6, 2022
  3. Johannes SchindelinApr 7, 2022
  4. Derrick StoleeApr 7, 2022
  5. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonApr 7, 2022
  6. Glen ChooApr 14, 2022
  7. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonApr 15, 2022
  8. Junio C HamanoApr 7, 2022
  9. Glen ChooApr 13, 2022
  10. Ævar Arnfjörð BjarmasonApr 7, 2022
  11. Junio C HamanoApr 7, 2022
  12. John CaiApr 7, 2022
  13. brian m. carlsonApr 7, 2022
  14. Justin StevenApr 7, 2022
  15. brian m. carlsonApr 7, 2022
  16. rsbecker@nexbridge.comApr 7, 2022
  17. Junio C HamanoApr 8, 2022
  18. Junio C HamanoApr 14, 2022
  19. Glen ChooApr 14, 2022
  20. Glen ChooApr 13, 2022
  21. Glen ChooApr 13, 2022
  22. Junio C HamanoApr 13, 2022
  23. Glen ChooApr 14, 2022
  24. Junio C HamanoApr 14, 2022
  25. Junio C HamanoApr 14, 2022
  26. Glen ChooApr 15, 2022
  27. Junio C HamanoApr 15, 2022
  28. Taylor BlauApr 16, 2022
  29. Glen ChooApr 15, 2022
  30. Junio C HamanoApr 15, 2022
  31. Glen ChooApr 15, 2022
  32. Glen ChooApr 15, 2022
  33. Taylor BlauApr 16, 2022
  34. Junio C HamanoApr 16, 2022
  35. Taylor BlauApr 16, 2022
  36. Glen ChooApr 16, 2022
  37. Taylor BlauApr 16, 2022
  38. Emily ShafferApr 21, 2022
  39. Emily ShafferApr 21, 2022
  40. Junio C HamanoApr 21, 2022
  41. Taylor BlauApr 21, 2022
  42. Taylor BlauApr 21, 2022
  43. Emily ShafferApr 21, 2022
  44. Taylor BlauApr 21, 2022
  45. Glen ChooApr 29, 2022
  46. Taylor BlauApr 30, 2022
  47. Glen ChooMay 2, 2022
  48. Philip OakleyMay 2, 2022
  49. Junio C HamanoMay 2, 2022
  50. Glen ChooApr 16, 2022

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