setup_git_directory(): add an owner check for the top-level directory

It poses a security risk to search for a git directory outside of the
directories owned by the current user.

For example, it is common e.g. in computer pools of educational
institutes to have a "scratch" space: a mounted disk with plenty of
space that is regularly swiped where any authenticated user can create
a directory to do their work. Merely navigating to such a space with a
Git-enabled `PS1` when there is a maliciously-crafted `/scratch/.git/`
can lead to a compromised account.

The same holds true in multi-user setups running Windows, as `C:\` is
writable to every authenticated user by default.

To plug this vulnerability, we stop Git from accepting top-level
directories owned by someone other than the current user. We avoid
looking at the ownership of each and every directories between the
current and the top-level one (if there are any between) to avoid
introducing a performance bottleneck.

This new default behavior is obviously incompatible with the concept of
shared repositories, where we expect the top-level directory to be owned
by only one of its legitimate users. To re-enable that use case, we add
support for adding exceptions from the new default behavior via the
config setting `safe.directory`.

The `safe.directory` config setting is only respected in the system and
global configs, not from repository configs or via the command-line, and
can have multiple values to allow for multiple shared repositories.

We are particularly careful to provide a helpful message to any user
trying to use a shared repository.

Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>

2 files changed, 23 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 6ba50b1104..34e6d477d6 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -438,6 +438,8 @@ include::config/rerere.txt[]
 
 include::config/reset.txt[]
 
+include::config/safe.txt[]
+
 include::config/sendemail.txt[]
 
 include::config/sequencer.txt[]
diff --git a/Documentation/config/safe.txt b/Documentation/config/safe.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..63597b2df8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/config/safe.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+safe.directory::
+	These config entries specify Git-tracked directories that are
+	considered safe even if they are owned by someone other than the
+	current user. By default, Git will refuse to even parse a Git
+	config of a repository owned by someone else, let alone run its
+	hooks, and this config setting allows users to specify exceptions,
+	e.g. for intentionally shared repositories (see the `--shared`
+	option in linkgit:git-init[1]).
++
+This is a multi-valued setting, i.e. you can add more than one directory
+via `git config --add`. To reset the list of safe directories (e.g. to
+override any such directories specified in the system config), add a
+`safe.directory` entry with an empty value.
++
+This config setting is only respected when specified in a system or global
+config, not when it is specified in a repository config or via the command
+line option `-c safe.directory=<path>`.
++
+The value of this setting is interpolated, i.e. `~/<path>` expands to a
+path relative to the home directory and `%(prefix)/<path>` expands to a
+path relative to Git's (runtime) prefix.