# Regression bug with latest SAFE ownership patch

3 messages from 2024-08-17 to 2024-08-18. Participants: James, brian m. carlson, Colin Stagner.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/61965

## James, 2024-08-17 03:15

Subject: Regression bug with latest SAFE ownership patch
Message-ID: <CADCaTgpcmMbLoKR-rWf_roWfbgWJL6HuURDxwovvKQA8syf=vw@mail.gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CADCaTgpcmMbLoKR-rWf_roWfbgWJL6HuURDxwovvKQA8syf%3Dvw%40mail.gmail.com

```
I am not a subscriber to this mailing list, so please please CC-me on replies.

I believe the recent changes for the safe ownership patch seemed to
have introduced a regression. I have a git repo which is on a shared
server that I trust and control. Adding a safe.directory does _not_
allow me to use this repo anymore. I can't even run a `git fetch`
without an error. I have renamed the repo name and directory, but
output is otherwise precise. Full logs and versions shown below:

james@computer1:~/whatever$ git remote show server2
fatal: detected dubious ownership in repository at
'/home/someoneelse/whatever/.git'
To add an exception for this directory, call:

    git config --global --add safe.directory /home/someoneelse/whatever/.git
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

Please make sure you have the correct access rights
and the repository exists.
james@computer1:~/whatever$ git config --add safe.directory
/home/someoneelse/whatever/.git
james@computer1:~/whatever$ git config --add safe.directory '*'
james@computer1:~/whatever$ git fetch server2
fatal: detected dubious ownership in repository at
'/home/someoneelse/whatever/.git'
To add an exception for this directory, call:

    git config --global --add safe.directory /home/someoneelse/whatever/.git
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

Please make sure you have the correct access rights
and the repository exists.
james@computer1:~/whatever$ cat .git/config
[core]
    repositoryformatversion = 0
    filemode = true
    bare = false
    logallrefupdates = true
[branch "master"]
    remote = origin
    merge = refs/heads/master
[remote "server2"]
    url = ssh://root@server2:/home/someoneelse/whatever/
    fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/server2/*
[safe]
    directory = /home/someoneelse/whatever/.git
    directory = *
james@computer1:~/whatever$ git version
git version 2.45.2
james@computer1:~/whatever$ ssh root@server2 git version
git version 2.45.2
james@computer1:~/whatever$

Thanks,
James
@purpleidea
https://purpleidea.com/
https://github.com/purpleidea/mgmt/

```

## brian m. carlson, 2024-08-17 15:34

Subject: Re: Regression bug with latest SAFE ownership patch
Message-ID: <ZsDC-nRxPIxQmoTj@tapette.crustytoothpaste.net>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/ZsDC-nRxPIxQmoTj%40tapette.crustytoothpaste.net
In-Reply-To: <CADCaTgpcmMbLoKR-rWf_roWfbgWJL6HuURDxwovvKQA8syf=vw@mail.gmail.com>

```
On 2024-08-17 at 03:15:05, James wrote:
> I am not a subscriber to this mailing list, so please please CC-me on replies.
> 
> I believe the recent changes for the safe ownership patch seemed to
> have introduced a regression. I have a git repo which is on a shared
> server that I trust and control. Adding a safe.directory does _not_
> allow me to use this repo anymore. I can't even run a `git fetch`
> without an error. I have renamed the repo name and directory, but
> output is otherwise precise. Full logs and versions shown below:
> 
> james@computer1:~/whatever$ git remote show server2
> fatal: detected dubious ownership in repository at
> '/home/someoneelse/whatever/.git'
> To add an exception for this directory, call:
> 
>     git config --global --add safe.directory /home/someoneelse/whatever/.git
> fatal: Could not read from remote repository.
> 
> Please make sure you have the correct access rights
> and the repository exists.
> james@computer1:~/whatever$ git config --add safe.directory
> /home/someoneelse/whatever/.git
> james@computer1:~/whatever$ git config --add safe.directory '*'

This adds the option to the local configuration, but it has to be in the
global (`--global`) or system (`--system`) config.  A malicious user
that owned the repository could modify the local config, so it can't be
trusted for this reason.
-- 
brian m. carlson (they/them or he/him)
Toronto, Ontario, CA

```

## Colin Stagner, 2024-08-18 17:30

Subject: Re: Regression bug with latest SAFE ownership patch
Message-ID: <fe20f819-5b8e-4cca-a094-24e5d4333aa6@howdoi.land>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/fe20f819-5b8e-4cca-a094-24e5d4333aa6%40howdoi.land
In-Reply-To: <CADCaTgpcmMbLoKR-rWf_roWfbgWJL6HuURDxwovvKQA8syf=vw@mail.gmail.com>

```
On 8/16/24 22:15, James wrote:
> I have a git repo which is on a shared server that I trust and control. Adding a safe.directory does _not_ allow me to use this repo anymore.

> james@computer1:~/whatever$ git remote show server2

> [remote "server2"]
>      url = ssh://root@server2:/home/someoneelse/whatever/
>      fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/server2/*

I believe that safe.directory only affects repositories hosted on the 
local filesystem—and not on SSH or HTTP(S) remotes.

I would discourage cloning a user repository with the root user, or 
running git as root if you can at all avoid it.

Since you already have root access on this system, how difficult would 
it be to add your SSH key as an authorized_key for someoneelse? Then you 
could use ssh://someoneelse@server2:/home/someoneelse/whatever/.git as 
your remote.

You could also share repositories via a simple gatekeeper or forge, like 
gitolite.

Colin


```