OpenAI Codex Desktop Git Metadata Inspection .git/config privileges management

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical was found in OpenAI Codex Desktop. Affected by this vulnerability is an unknown functionality of the file .git/config of the component Git Metadata Inspection. The manipulation results in privileges management. This vulnerability is reported as CVE-2026-19593. The attack can be launched remotely. No exploit exists.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability classified as critical has been found in OpenAI Codex Desktop (version unknown). Affected is an unknown function of the file .git/config of the component Git Metadata Inspection. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a privileges management vulnerability. CWE is classifying the issue as CWE-269. The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. This is going to have an impact on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

OpenAI Codex Desktop for Windows and macOS automatically inspected Git metadata and working-tree status when a user opened a workspace. If the workspace contains a repository with preserved attacker-controlled .git/config, the attr.tree setting and a configured clean or process filter can cause Git to run an attacker-controlled program. The program runs outside Codex's command sandbox with the signed-in user's privileges, without a workspace-trust prompt, command approval, or interaction with a model. The attacker can read, modify, or delete files and access credentials available to that user. Exploitation requires Git to be available on PATH and the user to open the attacker-prepared repository with its local Git configuration intact. An ordinary Git clone does not copy the source repository's .git/config and is not sufficient by itself.

This vulnerability is traded as CVE-2026-19593 since 08/12/2026. The exploitability is told to be easy. It is possible to launch the attack remotely. Successful exploitation requires user interaction by the victim. Technical details are known, but there is no available exploit. The structure of the vulnerability defines a possible price range of USD $0-$5k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/01/2026). This vulnerability is assigned to T1068 by the MITRE ATT&CK project.

There is no information about possible countermeasures known. It may be suggested to replace the affected object with an alternative product.

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Vendor

• OpenAI

Name

• Codex Desktop

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CPE 2.2info

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