transport: make `protocol.file.allow` be "user" by default

An earlier patch discussed and fixed a scenario where Git could be used as a vector to exfiltrate sensitive data through a Docker container when a potential victim clones a suspicious repository with local submodules that contain symlinks. That security hole has since been plugged, but a similar one still exists. Instead of convincing a would-be victim to clone an embedded submodule via the "file" protocol, an attacker could convince an individual to clone a repository that has a submodule pointing to a valid path on the victim's filesystem. For example, if an individual (with username "foo") has their home directory ("/home/foo") stored as a Git repository, then an attacker could exfiltrate data by convincing a victim to clone a malicious repository containing a submodule pointing at "/home/foo/.git" with `--recurse-submodules`. Doing so would expose any sensitive contents in stored in "/home/foo" tracked in Git. For systems (such as Docker) that consider everything outside of the immediate top-level working directory containing a Dockerfile as inaccessible to the container (with the exception of volume mounts, and so on), this is a violation of trust by exposing unexpected contents in the working copy. To mitigate the likelihood of this kind of attack, adjust the "file://" protocol's default policy to be "user" to prevent commands that execute without user input (including recursive submodule initialization) from taking place by default. Suggested-by: Jeff King <peff@peff.net> Signed-off-by: Taylor Blau <me@ttaylorr.com>

Taylor Blau committed Jul 29, 2022 at 15:22 UTC a1d4f67c12ac172f835e6d5e4e0a197075e2146b
2 files changed +4 -5
Documentation/config/protocol.txt
+3 -3
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
1 protocol.allow::
2 If set, provide a user defined default policy for all protocols which
3 don't explicitly have a policy (`protocol.<name>.allow`). By default,
4 - if unset, known-safe protocols (http, https, git, ssh, file) have a
4 + if unset, known-safe protocols (http, https, git, ssh) have a
5 default policy of `always`, known-dangerous protocols (ext) have a
6 - default policy of `never`, and all other protocols have a default
7 - policy of `user`. Supported policies:
6 + default policy of `never`, and all other protocols (including file)
7 + have a default policy of `user`. Supported policies:
8 +
9 --
10
transport.c
+1 -2
@@ -964,8 +964,7 @@ static enum protocol_allow_config get_protocol_config(const char *type)
964 if (!strcmp(type, "http") ||
965 !strcmp(type, "https") ||
966 !strcmp(type, "git") ||
967 - !strcmp(type, "ssh") ||
968 - !strcmp(type, "file"))
967 + !strcmp(type, "ssh"))
968 return PROTOCOL_ALLOW_ALWAYS;
969
970 /* known scary; err on the side of caution */