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GitLabApplication

CVE-2023-3907

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-12-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 16.4.4 / 16.5.4 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
A privilege escalation vulnerability in GitLab EE affecting all versions from 16.0 prior to 16.4.4, 16.5 prior to 16.5.4, and 16.6 prior to 16.6.2 allows a project Maintainer to use a Project Access Token to escalate their role to Owner

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

GitLab EE has a privilege escalation vulnerability where a project Maintainer can exploit a Project Access Token to elevate their role to Owner. This is a broken access control issue in the project's access token authorization logic.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab EE to versions 16.4.4, 16.5.4, 16.6.2 or later. Additionally, audit existing Project Access Tokens and maintainer-role assignments for suspicious activity.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
GitLabApplication
Affected:>= 16.0.0, < 16.4.4>= 16.5, < 16.5.4>= 16.6, < 16.6.2

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify GitLab version
    Run `sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or check the GitLab admin panel under Help > Version. Compare the version number to the affected ranges: 16.0.0 to 16.4.3, 16.5.0 to 16.5.3, or 16.6.0 to 16.6.1.
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected ranges (16.0.0-16.4.3, 16.5.0-16.5.3, or 16.6.0-16.6.1).
  2. Verify Project Access Tokens are in use
    Navigate to a project's Settings > Access Tokens in the GitLab web UI, or query the GitLab API endpoint `/projects/:id/access_tokens` with appropriate admin credentials.
    Affected if Project Access Tokens exist in any project within the GitLab instance.
  3. Identify users with Maintainer role
    Navigate to Project > Settings > Members, or use the GitLab API `/projects/:id/members/all` to list all members and their roles.
    Affected if Any user holds the Maintainer role on projects that also have Project Access Tokens enabled.
  4. Audit recent Project Access Token creations
    Review project audit logs in Project > Settings > Audit Events, filtering for events of type 'access_token_created' or 'access_token_revoked'. Check if Maintainers created or used these tokens.
    Affected if Maintainer-role users have created or actively used Project Access Tokens in the affected version range.

You are affected if your GitLab version is 16.0.0-16.4.3, 16.5.0-16.5.3, or 16.6.0-16.6.1 AND you have Project Access Tokens in use with Maintainer-role users present.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 16.4.4 / 16.5.4 / 16.6.2 or later
Fixed in 16.4.416.5.416.6.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab EE to versions 16.4.4, 16.5.4, 16.6.2 or later. Additionally, audit existing Project Access Tokens and maintainer-role assignments for suspicious activity.

Recommended fix High confidence

GitLab 16.4.4, 16.5.4, or 16.6.2 (or latest stable version)

  1. 1. Back up your GitLab instance data before proceeding with the upgrade
  2. 2. Review the GitLab upgrade path documentation for your current version
  3. 3. For GitLab 16.0.x through 16.4.x: upgrade to GitLab 16.4.4 or later
  4. 4. For GitLab 16.5.x: upgrade to GitLab 16.5.4 or later
  5. 5. For GitLab 16.6.x: upgrade to GitLab 16.6.2 or later
  6. 6. Alternatively, upgrade directly to the latest stable GitLab release (16.6.3 or newer) which contains all security fixes
  7. 7. After upgrade, verify that project access tokens can only be created by Owner-level users as intended
Caveat No breaking changes expected for this security patch; follow standard GitLab upgrade procedures

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in GitLab Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-3907 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data