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GitLabApplication

CVE-2023-4002

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-08-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 16.0.8 / 16.1.3 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
An issue has been discovered in GitLab EE affecting all versions starting from 14.1 before 16.0.8, all versions starting from 16.1 before 16.1.3, all versions starting from 16.2 before 16.2.2. It was possible for EE-licensed users to link any security policy project by its ID to projects or groups the user has access to, potentially revealing the security projects's configured security policies.

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

This is an authorization bypass vulnerability in GitLab EE where users with EE licenses could link any security policy project by its ID to projects or groups they have access to, without proper authorization checks. This allows unauthorized users to potentially view security policies configured in protected security policy projects.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab EE to versions 16.0.8, 16.1.3, or 16.2.2 or later. Until upgraded, monitor access to security policy project linkages and restrict knowledge of security policy project IDs to authorized personnel only.

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:>= 14.1.0, < 16.0.8>= 16.1.0, < 16.1.3>= 16.2.0, < 16.2.2

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
None
Availability
None

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

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. Check installed GitLab version
    Run `sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or check the GitLab admin panel under Help > Version to find the exact version number
    Affected if Version is 14.1.0 to 16.0.7, 16.1.0 to 16.1.2, or 16.2.0 to 16.2.1 (falls within any of the three affected ranges)
  2. Identify security policy projects
    In GitLab EE admin area, navigate to Security and Compliance > Security Policies, or use API endpoint `GET /security/projects` to list all projects with security policies configured
    Affected if Any security policy projects exist in the GitLab instance
  3. Review security policy project linkages
    Use API or UI to examine which projects or groups have security policy projects linked to them. Check each linkage for whether the requesting user had proper authorization
    Affected if Security policy projects are linked to projects or groups where the linking user lacks maintainer or owner permissions on the target security policy project
  4. Audit security policy linkage events
    Search GitLab audit logs under Admin Area > Monitoring > Audit Events, filtering for event types related to security policy linking or project association changes
    Affected if Audit logs show security policy project linkages performed by users who should not have had access to those specific security policy project IDs

User is affected if running a GitLab EE version in the affected ranges AND has security policy projects that could have been linked by unauthorized users.

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 16.0.8 / 16.1.3 / 16.2.2 or later
Fixed in 16.0.816.1.316.2.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab EE to versions 16.0.8, 16.1.3, or 16.2.2 or later. Until upgraded, monitor access to security policy project linkages and restrict knowledge of security policy project IDs to authorized personnel only.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to 16.0.8 (or later 16.0.x), 16.1.3 (or later 16.1.x), or 16.2.2 (or later 16.2.x) - choose the path appropriate for your current major version

  1. 1. Identify your current GitLab EE version from the Admin Area > Monitoring > Version page
  2. 2. Determine which upgrade path applies based on your current version (see upgrade_path)
  3. 3. Review GitLab upgrade documentation for your current version to target version
  4. 4. Create a full backup of your GitLab instance before upgrading
  5. 5. Stop GitLab services
  6. 6. Update GitLab to the appropriate fixed version using your package manager (e.g., apt-get update && apt-get install gitlab-ee for Debian/Ubuntu, or yum install for RHEL/CentOS)
  7. 7. Reconfigure GitLab: sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure
  8. 8. Restart GitLab services: sudo gitlab-ctl restart
Caveat Major version upgrades (e.g., 14.x to 16.x) may require database migrations and have breaking changes - review GitLab upgrade guides; patch upgrades within same major.minor are generally low-risk

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

Fix this in GitLab Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2023-4002 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