clone_submodule: avoid using `access()` on directories

In 0060fd1511b (clone --recurse-submodules: prevent name squatting on Windows, 2019-09-12), I introduced code to verify that a git dir either does not exist, or is at least empty, to fend off attacks where an inadvertently (and likely maliciously) pre-populated git dir would be used while cloning submodules recursively. The logic used `access(<path>, X_OK)` to verify that a directory exists before calling `is_empty_dir()` on it. That is a curious way to check for a directory's existence and might well fail for unwanted reasons. Even the original author (it was I ;-) ) struggles to explain why this function was used rather than `stat()`. This code was _almost_ copypastad in the previous commit, but that `access()` call was caught during review. Let's use `stat()` instead also in the code that was almost copied verbatim. Let's not use `lstat()` because in the unlikely event that somebody snuck a symbolic link in, pointing to a crafted directory, we want to verify that that directory is empty. Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>

Johannes Schindelin committed Apr 12, 2024 at 21:00 UTC eafffd9ad417bdf0a3c63e5276d5a18f563cd291
1 file changed +1 -1
builtin/submodule--helper.c
+1 -1
@@ -1742,7 +1742,7 @@ static int clone_submodule(const struct module_clone_data *clone_data,
1742 } else {
1743 char *path;
1744
1745 - if (clone_data->require_init && !access(clone_data_path, X_OK) &&
1745 + if (clone_data->require_init && !stat(clone_data_path, &st) &&
1746 !is_empty_dir(clone_data_path))
1747 die(_("directory not empty: '%s'"), clone_data_path);
1748 if (safe_create_leading_directories_const(clone_data_path) < 0)