CVE-2023-29011: Git for Windows's config file of `connect.exe` is susceptible to malicious placing

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-04-25 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-427

Description

Git for Windows, the Windows port of Git, ships with an executable called `connect.exe`, which implements a SOCKS5 proxy that can be used to connect e.g. to SSH servers via proxies when certain ports are blocked for outgoing connections. The location of `connect.exe`'s config file is hard-coded as `/etc/connectrc` which will typically be interpreted as `C:\etc\connectrc`. Since `C:\etc` can be created by any authenticated user, this makes `connect.exe` susceptible to malicious files being placed there by other users on the same multi-user machine. The problem has been patched in Git for Windows v2.40.1. As a workaround, create the folder `etc` on all drives where Git commands are run, and remove read/write access from those folders. Alternatively, watch out for malicious `<drive>:\etc\connectrc` files on multi-user machines.

Affected products

git-for-windows git: before 2.40.1 — fixed in 2.40.1

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: git-for-windows git 2.40.1. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

Get alerted when CVE-2023-29011 or the next vulnerability affects your stack