New Gitea RCE Lets Repository Writers Plant a Git Hook to Run Shell Commands

Summary

A critical remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2026-60004) has been patched in Gitea, allowing users with repository write access to execute shell commands as the Gitea service account. The flaw, affecting versions 1.17 and later before 1.27.1, is exploitable by submitting a malicious patch twice to create an add/add collision, which then triggers a Git hook. While exploitation requires specific conditions, default Gitea configurations with open registration make it accessible to external attackers.

Full text

New Gitea RCE Lets Repository Writers Plant a Git Hook to Run Shell Commands Swati KhandelwalJul 29, 2026Vulnerability / DevOps Gitea, the self-hosted Git platform, has patched a critical remote code execution vulnerability. A user with ordinary repository write access can turn attacker-controlled patch content into a live Git hook and run shell commands as the Gitea service account. Tracked as CVE-2026-60004 (CVSS score: 9.8), the flaw affects Gitea versions 1.17 and later before 1.27.1 and is fixed in 1.27.1. The vulnerable API call requires authentication and repository write permission. But Gitea enables registration by default, so an outside visitor can create a normal account and repository on an unchanged installation, then exploit the bug without pre-existing credentials. Upgrading to 1.27.1 is the fix. Gitea said on July 27 that Gitea Cloud instances would be upgraded automatically. Gitea's July 28 advisory does not say the flaw has been exploited in the wild, but it includes public proof-of-concept (PoC) code. Disabling open registration can remove the public account-creation path while the update is deployed, but it does not fix the flaw or protect against existing users with repository write access. The flaw was reported by security researcher Shai Rod, who goes by NightRang3r. Gitea credits NightRang3r as the reporter in its advisory. Gitea's affected route invokes reqToken(), which rejects requests without a signed-in user. The no-prior-credentials path comes from the project's default configuration, which leaves registration open, requires neither email nor manual approval, does not mark new users as restricted, and imposes no default repository-creation limit. The bug sits in the POST /api/v1/repos/{owner}/{repo}/diffpatch endpoint. According to Gitea's security advisory, the endpoint applies a supplied patch inside a shared bare temporary clone. Vulnerable builds invoke git apply with --index, --recount, --cached, and --binary, adding the -3 three-way fallback option when the server runs Git 2.32 or later. An attacker submits the same patch twice to create an add/add collision. The three-way fallback then checks the indexed path out even though the operation uses --cached. Because the temporary clone is bare, its root is $GIT_DIR. An executable file placed at hooks/post-index-change therefore lands in Git's hook directory and becomes active. Git runs it while updating the index. The PoC signs in with a normal account, creates an initialized private repository, sends the malicious patch twice, and retrieves the command output. It needs no outbound callback. The hook stores the output in Git objects, creates a branch containing the result, and lets the attacker fetch it over authenticated smart HTTP. As of July 29, 2026, none of the cited primary sources reports whether the flaw was exploited before or after version 1.27.1 became available. Successful exploitation gives the attacker the privileges of the Gitea operating-system account. Depending on how the instance is isolated, Gitea said that could expose application and environment secrets, mounted repositories, database credentials and contents, OAuth credentials, and reachable internal services. Exploitation still requires repository write access, Git 2.32 or later, an enabled diffpatch route, and a writable, executable temporary filesystem. Default registration lets an outsider obtain the required write access on an unchanged installation. The fix is easy to miss in the changelog. Gitea changed the temporary clone from bare to non-bare. The code comment explicitly warns that Git commands using --index may operate on the working tree. The change was merged and backported on July 26, 2026. Version 1.27.1 shipped on July 27, and the security advisory followed on July 28. The release notes listed the change under MISC as "refactor: git patch apply," not under SECURITY. Rod had previewed the RCE alongside a separate file-inclusion issue, with a PoC retrieving /etc/passwd from a Gitea 1.27.0 host. That issue appears to correspond to a separate change included in 1.27.1 that altered Gitea's Org-mode renderer so #+INCLUDE paths are returned as plain text instead of being read from the server's filesystem. Gitea has not published a separate advisory or CVE for the file-inclusion issue. Found this article interesting? Follow us on Google News, Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE     Tweet Share Share Share SHARE  API Security, Application Security, DevOps, Git Security, Open Source, remote code execution, server security, Vulnerability ⚡ Top Stories This Week New Bit2Watt Attack Could Let Cloud Tenants Disrupt Power Grids Without an Exploit Open-Source Android AI Agents Could Let Invisible Screen Text Run Code on Host PCs Critical SharePoint RCE CVE-2026-50522 Under Active Exploitation After Public PoC AWS Kiro Flaw Let a Poisoned Web Page Rewrite Its Config and Run Code Apple Fixes Hide My Email Bug That Exposed Real Addresses in Mail Logs Microsoft Azure DevOps MCP Flaw Lets Hidden PR Comments Hijack AI Review Agents OpenAI Says Its AI Models Escaped Sandbox, Targeted Hugging Face to Cheat Benchmark Adobe Acrobat Extension Flaw Let Malicious Sites Read WhatsApp Web Data Ubuntu snap-confine Flaw Could Give Local Users Root on Default Desktop Installs Nine-Year-Old RefluXFS Linux Flaw Gives Local Users Root on Default RHEL Installs Attackers Weaponize GitHub Actions Runners to Target cPanel and WHM Servers Claude Cowork Flaw Could Let AI Agent Escape Its VM and Access Mac Files ThreatsDay: Android Spyware, PLC Attacks, AI Image Prompt Injection + 12 More Stories Kimi K3 Agents Found Redis Zero-Days and Built RCE Exploit, Researchers Say Hacker Runs Hermes AI Agent Unattended for Post-Exploitation at Thai Finance Ministry ChatGPT AgentForger Flaw Could Deploy Rogue Workspace Agents via a Phishing Link Certighost Exploit Lets Low-Privileged Active Directory Users Impersonate a Domain Controller Researcher Publishes GitLab RCE PoC Letting Authenticated Users Run Commands as Git Fastjson 1.x RCE Vulnerability Targeted in Attacks With No Patched Available Malvertising Sends Malware in Pieces, Then Makes the Browser Build the Executable ⭐ Featured Resources Identity Fraud Is Changing Fast. 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Indicators of Compromise

• cve — CVE-2026-60004

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