Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-2442

XSS in Gitlab 15.11.0 – 15.11.7

High EPSSXSS
Published
07 June 2023
Modified
07 January 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.96 99.9th percentile
Risk Priority 86 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-2023-2442 is a high-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Gitlab Gitlab. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Browser Session Hijacking (T1185); ranked in the top 0.1% 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.

A stored cross-site scripting vulnerability exists in GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition. It affects all versions from 15.11 up to but not including 15.11.7 and all versions from 16.0 up to but not including 16.0.2. The flaw is triggered when a specially crafted merge request is processed, allowing attacker-controlled script to execute persistently in victims' browsers and resulting in a client-side stored XSS condition tracked as CWE-79.

An authenticated user who can submit merge requests is able to exploit the issue. Successful exploitation grants the attacker the ability to perform arbitrary actions within the victim's session, including actions that could lead to full account compromise given the CVSS vector of AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N.

GitLab has published patches that remediate the vulnerability in the fixed releases 15.11.7 and 16.0.2; the associated advisories and issue trackers are available at the referenced GitLab CVE JSON entries and the linked GitLab issue 409346. The current EPSS score of 0.8181 with a recorded peak of 0.8436 indicates sustained exploitation interest after disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 15.11 before 15.11.7, all versions starting from 16.0 before 16.0.2. A specially crafted merge request could lead to a stored XSS on the client side which allows…

more

attackers to perform arbitrary actions on behalf of victims.

CWE(s)
CWE-79

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1185 Browser Session Hijacking Collection
Adversaries may take advantage of security vulnerabilities and inherent functionality in browser software to change content, modify user-behaviors, and intercept information as part of various browser session hijacking techniques.
attack.mitre.org →
T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie Credential Access
An adversary may steal web application or service session cookies and use them to gain access to web applications or Internet services as an authenticated user without needing credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
T1659 Content Injection Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access and continuously communicate with victims by injecting malicious content into systems through online network traffic.
attack.mitre.org →
T1189 Drive-by Compromise Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access to a system through a user visiting a website over the normal course of browsing.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-0050Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-2164Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2020-13340Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-6033Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2021-22242Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2021-39906Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2022-1175Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2022-1190Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-2015Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2022-2230Same product: Gitlab Gitlab

Affected Assets

gitlab
gitlab
15.11.0 — 15.11.7 · 15.11.0 — 15.11.7 · 16.0.0 — 16.0.2

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
prevents

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
prevents

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.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Secure-coding testing and automated code-analysis tools are applied to detect improper neutralization of script-related content during web-page generation.

A.5.6 Contact with special interest groups partial match
prevents

Knowledge exchange on emerging attack techniques and patches reduces the likelihood that cross-site scripting flaws remain unaddressed in deployed applications.

A.5.7 Threat intelligence partial match
prevents

Operational indicators of compromise for web-application attacks can be incorporated into WAF or input-filtering rules, lowering the likelihood that unsanitized data reaches the browser.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Requiring language-specific secure-coding standards and automated scanning during the SDLC catches missing output encoding or improper neutralization of untrusted data before the software reaches production.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure-coding standards, SAST scans and removal of insecure code samples together eliminate the failure to neutralize script content that produces cross-site scripting flaws.

References