Vulnerability in Gitolite (CVE-2018-20683)

Summary

Vulnerability in Gitolite (CVE-2018-20683). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.

Original description

The description as published by the source.

commands/rsync in Gitolite before 3.6.11, if .gitolite.rc enables rsync, mishandles the rsync command line, which allows attackers to have a "bad" impact by triggering use of an option other than -v, -n, -q, or -P.

Source: OSV.dev (Open Source Vulnerabilities) NVD OSV

Auto-generated summary

Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.

A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2018-20683 has been found in Gitolite.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "Gitolite CVE-2018-20683" on the vendor's site.

CVE-2018-20683 (Gitolite)
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / unauthenticated / no user interaction
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.

❓ What is the problem

A vulnerability (unclassified) exists in Gitolite.

📍 Affected scope

Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of Gitolite.

🔥 Severity

Severity: ?. Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.

🔧 How to fix

Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.

🛡️ Workaround

Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.

🔍 Detection

Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'Gitolite' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.

Response actions

Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order

1
Identify exposure identify
```
grep -r 'Gitolite' . | grep -v node_modules
```
リポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で Gitolite を grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。
2
Post-deployment verification verify
```
Confirm patched version is live in production
```
パッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。

Fix status by distribution

Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE

Alpine Linux ALPINE-CVE-2018-20683 gitolite Fixed in: 3.6.11-r0
Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2018-20683 gitolite3 Fixed in: 3.6.11-1