From 779ea9303a7de3d618f3b0e329ebb89529ab3285 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Glen Choo Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2022 21:27:58 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Documentation: define protected configuration For security reasons, there are config variables that are only trusted when they are specified in certain configuration scopes, which are sometimes referred to on-list as 'protected configuration' [1]. A future commit will introduce another such variable, so let's define our terms so that we can have consistent documentation and implementation. In our documentation, define 'protected configuration' as the system, global and command config scopes. As a shorthand, I will refer to variables that are only respected in protected configuration as 'protected configuration only', but this term is not used in the documentation. This definition of protected configuration is based on whether or not Git can reasonably protect the user by ignoring the configuration scope: - System, global and command line config are considered protected because an attacker who has control over any of those can do plenty of harm without Git, so we gain very little by ignoring those scopes. - On the other hand, local (and similarly, worktree) config are not considered protected because it is relatively easy for an attacker to control local config, e.g.: - On some shared user environments, a non-admin attacker can create a repository high up the directory hierarchy (e.g. C:\.git on Windows), and a user may accidentally use it when their PS1 automatically invokes "git" commands. `safe.directory` prevents attacks of this form by making sure that the user intended to use the shared repository. It obviously shouldn't be read from the repository, because that would end up trusting the repository that Git was supposed to reject. - "git upload-pack" is expected to run in repositories that may not be controlled by the user. We cannot ignore all config in that repository (because "git upload-pack" would fail), but we can limit the risks by ignoring `uploadpack.packObjectsHook`. Only `uploadpack.packObjectsHook` is 'protected configuration only'. The following variables are intentionally excluded: - `safe.directory` should be 'protected configuration only', but it does not technically fit the definition because it is not respected in the "command" scope. A future commit will fix this. - `trace2.*` happens to read the same scopes as `safe.directory` because they share an implementation. However, this is not for security reasons; it is because we want to start tracing so early that repository-level config and "-c" are not available [2]. This requirement is unique to `trace2.*`, so it does not makes sense for protected configuration to be subject to the same constraints. [1] For example, https://lore.kernel.org/git/6af83767-576b-75c4-c778-0284344a8fe7@github.com/ [2] https://lore.kernel.org/git/a0c89d0d-669e-bf56-25d2-cbb09b012e70@jeffhostetler.com/ Signed-off-by: Glen Choo Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano --- Documentation/config/uploadpack.txt | 6 +++--- Documentation/git-config.txt | 13 +++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 16 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/config/uploadpack.txt b/Documentation/config/uploadpack.txt index 32fad5bbe8..16264d82a7 100644 --- a/Documentation/config/uploadpack.txt +++ b/Documentation/config/uploadpack.txt @@ -49,9 +49,9 @@ uploadpack.packObjectsHook:: `pack-objects` to the hook, and expects a completed packfile on stdout. + -Note that this configuration variable is ignored if it is seen in the -repository-level config (this is a safety measure against fetching from -untrusted repositories). +Note that this configuration variable is only respected when it is specified +in protected configuration (see <>). This is a safety measure +against fetching from untrusted repositories. uploadpack.allowFilter:: If this option is set, `upload-pack` will support partial diff --git a/Documentation/git-config.txt b/Documentation/git-config.txt index 53c7c65f9e..7a2bcb2f6c 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-config.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-config.txt @@ -341,6 +341,7 @@ specifying the path of a file with the `--file` option, or by specifying a configuration scope with `--system`, `--global`, `--local`, or `--worktree`. For more, see <> above. +[[SCOPES]] SCOPES ------ @@ -379,6 +380,18 @@ Most configuration options are respected regardless of the scope it is defined in, but some options are only respected in certain scopes. See the respective option's documentation for the full details. +Protected configuration +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Protected configuration refers to the 'system', 'global', and 'command' scopes. +For security reasons, certain options are only respected when they are +specified in protected configuration, and ignored otherwise. + +Git treats these scopes as if they are controlled by the user or a trusted +administrator. This is because an attacker who controls these scopes can do +substantial harm without using Git, so it is assumed that the user's environment +protects these scopes against attackers. + [[ENVIRONMENT]] ENVIRONMENT -----------