getsops / getsops/sops

Using gpg in combination with --decrypt mode can overwrite the input file

Open
#753 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

Dominant language
Go
Stars
23.1k
Forks
1.1k
Avg merge
1d 11h
Merged PRs (30d)
9

Description

On Linux, when you execute:
sops ... --decrypt /dev/stdin ... < file1 > file2
Due to the < redirection, file1 is attached (read-only) as fd 0. This is fine, except if you're using gpg, and then the included gopgagent grabs a r/w copy of the fd (here, I think).

It looks like gopgagent assumes that /proc/self/fd/0 is a terminal, and so it writes the password prompt to it. Goodbye file contents.

Of course, the safe workaround is to use cat file1 | sops ... --decrypt ... > file2.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the Linux command using /dev/stdin, input redirection, and gpg, then inspect gpgagent.go at the linked location to understand how fd 0 is opened and used. Done means decrypt mode no longer overwrites the redirected input file, while the documented cat pipeline remains a safe workaround.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
go
Domain
cli, security
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.