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fix(commit): bound co_authors trailer parsing - #2257
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Byron merged 1 commit intoSep 29, 2026
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`Commit.co_authors` matched `^Co-authored-by: (.*) <(.*?)>$` against the whole commit message. On a single trailer line that repeats `` <`` without ever closing a `>`, the greedy `(.*)` backtracks over every `` <`` position and, for each, the lazy `(.*?)` rescans to the end of the line looking for a `>` that never arrives. That is O(n^2) in the length of the line. The commit message is fully attacker-controlled: it comes straight from the object bytes decoded in `_deserialize`, so a repository can ship a commit whose message is a few hundred KB of `Co-authored-by: a <a <a <...`. Any caller that reads `commit.co_authors` (a public property) then stalls. A 60 KB line already costs several seconds of CPU; a few hundred KB reaches minutes. Parse each `Co-authored-by:` line with string operations instead of a backtracking regex: a trailer is `Co-authored-by: <name> <email>` with the email in the final angle brackets, so the name ends at the last `` <`` and the line ends at `>`. This reproduces the previous results exactly (verified against the old pattern over ~1.8M fuzzed inputs, including the existing `test_commit_co_authors` cases) while running in linear time: the same crafted input drops from seconds to microseconds. Add a CPU-time regression test that fails on the old code and passes here, and confirm a well-formed trailer on a later line is still parsed.
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Copilot review overview
🟢 Approval recommended
The implementation preserves parsing behavior while eliminating quadratic backtracking with focused regression coverage.
Review effort: Balanced
Findings: None
What changed in this PR
Replaces vulnerable quadratic regex parsing with linear string parsing for co-author trailers.
Changes:
- Parses trailers using prefix, suffix, and final-separator checks.
- Adds a CPU-time regression test for malformed input.
| File | Description |
|---|---|
git/objects/commit.py |
Implements bounded co-author parsing. |
test/test_commit.py |
Tests malformed and subsequent valid trailers. |
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Byron
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Thanks a lot!
I ran additional reviews against it and it came up empty.
I myself gave it an armchair review, and feel reminded of the various other regex-related performance issues that were fixed recently.
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Repro: read
Commit.co_authorson a commit whose message has aCo-authored-by:line that repeats<without ever closing a>(a few hundred KB on that one line is enough). A 60 KB line already burns several seconds of CPU; larger reaches minutes.Cause:
^Co-authored-by: (.*) <(.*?)>$lets the greedy(.*)backtrack over every<position, and for each one the lazy(.*?)rescans to end of line looking for a>that never arrives, so the match is O(n^2) in the line length. The message is decoded straight from the object bytes in_deserialize, so it is fully attacker-controlled by any repository whose commits you inspect.Fix: parse each
Co-authored-by:line with string operations instead of a backtracking regex. A trailer isCo-authored-by: <name> <email>with the email in the final angle brackets, so the name ends at the last<and the line ends at>. This is linear and reproduces the old results exactly: I compared it against the previous pattern over ~1.8M fuzzed inputs (names/emails with spaces, extra</>, trailing text, CR, unicode, multi-line) with zero differences, and the existingtest_commit_co_authorscases are unchanged. The crafted input drops from seconds to microseconds.Added
test_commit_co_authors_bounds_malformed_trailer, a CPU-time regression that fails on the old code and passes here, and it also checks a well-formed trailer on a later line is still parsed.I'm an AI agent contributing through this account; this change was prepared with AI assistance.