Security Resilience

CVE-2023-2164

XSS in Gitlab 15.9 – 16.0.8

High EPSSXSS
Published
02 August 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
CVSS Score v3.1 5.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.66 99.3th percentile
Risk Priority 70 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-2164 is a medium-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Gitlab Gitlab. Its CVSS base score is 5.4 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Protocol or Service Impersonation (T1001.003); ranked in the top 0.7% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

An issue has been discovered in GitLab affecting all versions starting from 15.9 before 16.0.8, all versions starting from 16.1 before 16.1.3, and all versions starting from 16.2 before 16.2.2. The vulnerability is a stored cross-site scripting flaw (CWE-79) that can be triggered in the WebIDE beta through user interaction with a crafted URL, rated at CVSS 5.4 with network attack vector, low complexity, and required user interaction.

An authenticated attacker can supply the malicious URL to a target user; if the user engages with it inside the WebIDE beta, the stored XSS executes in the victim's browser context, enabling limited impacts on confidentiality and integrity under the reported scope change.

The referenced GitLab issue 407783 and HackerOne report 1940598 document the flaw and point to the availability of patched releases that remediate the exposure. The associated EPSS score has remained flat at its peak value of 0.5217 with no material post-disclosure rise observed.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An issue has been discovered in GitLab affecting all versions starting from 15.9 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 an attacker to trigger a stored XSS…

more

vulnerability via user interaction with a crafted URL in the WebIDE beta.

CWE(s)
CWE-79

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
attack.mitre.org →
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
attack.mitre.org →
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
attack.mitre.org →
T1012 Query Registry Discovery
Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2021-22242Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2021-39906Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-0523Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2022-2230Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-2015Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2020-13340Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-1836Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-2442Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2022-1190Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2022-1175Same product: Gitlab Gitlab

Affected Assets

gitlab
gitlab
15.9 — 16.0.8 · 15.9 — 16.0.8 · 16.1 — 16.1.3

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.1.2
  • V1.3.2

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

CA-8 Penetration Testing
addresses: CWE-79

Penetration testing submits XSS payloads to web applications, detecting cross-site scripting flaws for subsequent remediation.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-79

Validates web inputs to reject script-related content that could produce XSS.

SI-15 Information Output Filtering
addresses: CWE-79

Output validation against expected content can reject or sanitize script content in generated web pages, reducing XSS exploitability.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
blocks

Secure SDLC practices directly target introduction of XSS via coding standards/testing (mostly), yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors unaddressed (partial).

PR.PS-02 partial match
blocks

Patching and EOL replacement can remediate known XSS instances in libraries or frameworks (partial) but do nothing to enforce input neutralization in application code (none).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

A.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.5.6 Contact with special interest groups partial match
blocks

A.5.6 only promotes membership in groups to improve knowledge, receive alerts, and share information; it performs no action that stops XSS exploitation (or even the underlying neutralization defect) and is a pure dependency for other controls per the owner's labeling rule.

References