[PATCH 1/3] sideband: mask control characters

From: Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
Date: Jan 14, 2025, 18:19 UTC
Message-ID: <f7fb7a38333cf6527345e3dbefaeb2cd8ade6429.1736878772.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <pull.1853.git.1736878772.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>

From: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>

The output of `git clone` is a vital component for understanding what has happened when things go wrong. However, these logs are partially under the control of the remote server (via the "sideband", which typically contains what the remote `git pack-objects` process sends to `stderr`), and is currently not sanitized by Git.

This makes Git susceptible to ANSI escape sequence injection (see CWE-150, https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/150.html), which allows attackers to corrupt terminal state, to hide information, and even to insert characters into the input buffer (i.e. as if the user had typed those characters).

To plug this vulnerability, disallow any control character in the sideband, replacing them instead with the common `^<letter/symbol>` (e.g. `^[` for `\x1b`, `^A` for `\x01`).

There is likely a need for more fine-grained controls instead of using a "heavy hammer" like this, which will be introduced subsequently.

Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
---
 sideband.c                          | 17 +++++++++++++++--
 t/t5409-colorize-remote-messages.sh | 12 ++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/sideband.c b/sideband.c
index 02805573fab..c0b1cb044a3 100644
--- a/sideband.c
+++ b/sideband.c
@@ -65,6 +65,19 @@ void list_config_color_sideband_slots(struct string_list *list, const char *pref
 		list_config_item(list, prefix, keywords[i].keyword);
 }
 
+static void strbuf_add_sanitized(struct strbuf *dest, const char *src, int n)
+{
+	strbuf_grow(dest, n);
+	for (; n && *src; src++, n--) {
+		if (!iscntrl(*src) || *src == '\t' || *src == '\n')
+			strbuf_addch(dest, *src);
+		else {
+			strbuf_addch(dest, '^');
+			strbuf_addch(dest, 0x40 + *src);
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 /*
  * Optionally highlight one keyword in remote output if it appears at the start
  * of the line. This should be called for a single line only, which is
@@ -80,7 +93,7 @@ static void maybe_colorize_sideband(struct strbuf *dest, const char *src, int n)
 	int i;
 
 	if (!want_color_stderr(use_sideband_colors())) {
-		strbuf_add(dest, src, n);
+		strbuf_add_sanitized(dest, src, n);
 		return;
 	}
 
@@ -113,7 +126,7 @@ static void maybe_colorize_sideband(struct strbuf *dest, const char *src, int n)
 		}
 	}
 
-	strbuf_add(dest, src, n);
+	strbuf_add_sanitized(dest, src, n);
 }
 
 
diff --git a/t/t5409-colorize-remote-messages.sh b/t/t5409-colorize-remote-messages.sh
index 516b22fd963..61126e2b167 100755
--- a/t/t5409-colorize-remote-messages.sh
+++ b/t/t5409-colorize-remote-messages.sh
@@ -99,4 +99,16 @@ test_expect_success 'fallback to color.ui' '
 	grep "<BOLD;RED>error<RESET>: error" decoded
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'disallow (color) control sequences in sideband' '
+	write_script .git/color-me-surprised <<-\EOF &&
+	printf "error: Have you \\033[31mread\\033[m this?\\n" >&2
+	exec "$@"
+	EOF
+	test_config_global uploadPack.packObjectshook ./color-me-surprised &&
+	test_commit need-at-least-one-commit &&
+	git clone --no-local . throw-away 2>stderr &&
+	test_decode_color <stderr >decoded &&
+	test_grep ! RED decoded
+'
+
 test_done

-- 
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