Debian: CVE-2023-4759: jgit -- security update

Arbitrary File Overwrite in Eclipse JGit

In Eclipse JGit, all versions
This can happen on checkout (DirCacheCheckout), merge (ResolveMerger via its WorkingTreeUpdater), pull (PullCommand using merge), and when applying a patch (PatchApplier). This can be exploited for remote code execution (RCE), for instance if the file written outside the working tree is a git filter that gets executed on a subsequent git command.

The issue occurs only on case-insensitive filesystems, like the default filesystems on Windows and macOS. The user performing the clone or checkout must have the rights to create symbolic links for the problem to occur, and symbolic links must be enabled in the git configuration.

Setting git configuration option core.symlinks = false before checking out avoids the problem.

The issue was fixed in Eclipse JGit version 6.6.1.202309021850-r and 6.7.0.202309050840-r, available via Maven Central https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/eclipse/jgit/  and repo.eclipse.org https://repo.eclipse.org/content/repositories/jgit-releases/ . A backport is available in 5.13.3 starting from 5.13.3.202401111512-r.

The JGit maintainers would like to thank RyotaK for finding and reporting this issue.