git: 'fatal: detected dubious ownership in repository at /path. To add an exception for this directory, call: git config --global --add safe.directory /path' (Docker, CI, WSL, shared drives)

Cause: since Git 2.35.2 (the fix for CVE-2022-24765), Git refuses to work in a repository owned by a different user than the one running Git, because a repository's own config can make Git run programs. It triggers when the checkout and the git command run as different users: a repo cloned with sudo or by root, a bind-mounted folder in a Docker container running as root or another UID, CI runners where the checkout step and the job run as different users, WSL accessing Windows folders, or network shares and external drives with different ownership. How to check: ls -ld /path/to/repo (or the .git folder) shows the owner; whoami / id shows who is running git. Fix (most specific first): 1. Fix the ownership if the repo should belong to you: sudo chown -R $(id -u):$(id -g) /path/to/repo, and stop cloning with sudo. 2. In Docker: run the container as your user (docker run --user "$(id -u):$(id -g)") or add just that path as safe in the image: git config --system --add safe.directory /workspace. 3. In CI: add the checkout directory as safe in the job (for GitHub Actions in containers, git config --global --add safe.directory "$GITHUB_WORKSPACE"; actions/checkout does this for its own steps). 4. For one repo you trust on a shared drive: git config --global --add safe.directory /path/to/repo. 5. Avoid safe.directory '*' on machines where you open repositories from others: it turns the protection off for every folder, which is exactly the risk behind malicious-repo attacks on developer tools and AI coding agents. Reserve it for throwaway containers that only see your own code. After: rerun the git command; if it works only with '*', narrow it to the specific path. Sources: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-config#Documentation/git-config.txt-safedirectory https://support.atlassian.com/bitbucket-cloud/kb/git-command-returns-fatal-error-detected-dubious-ownership/ https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/29022