Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-3907

Gitlab 16.0.0 – 16.4.4

Published
17 December 2023
Modified
05 May 2025
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 4.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0059 45th percentile
Risk Priority 40 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-3907 is a medium-severity Incorrect User Management (CWE-286) vulnerability in Gitlab Gitlab. Its CVSS base score is 4.9 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Account Manipulation (T1098); ranked at the 45th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A06:2025 Insecure Design

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

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

CWE(s)
CWE-286NVD-CWE-Other

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1098 Account Manipulation Persistence
Adversaries may manipulate accounts to maintain and/or elevate access to victim systems.
attack.mitre.org →
T1136 Create Account Persistence
Adversaries may create an account to maintain access to victim systems.
attack.mitre.org →
T1078 Valid Accounts Stealth
Adversaries may obtain and abuse credentials of existing accounts as a means of gaining Initial Access, Persistence, Privilege Escalation, or Defense Evasion.
attack.mitre.org →
T1098.001 Additional Cloud Credentials Persistence
Adversaries may add adversary-controlled credentials to a cloud account to maintain persistent access to victim accounts and instances within the environment.
attack.mitre.org →
T1098.003 Additional Cloud Roles Persistence
An adversary may add additional roles or permissions to an adversary-controlled cloud account to maintain persistent access to a tenant.
attack.mitre.org →
T1098.007 Additional Local or Domain Groups Persistence
An adversary may add additional local or domain groups to an adversary-controlled account to maintain persistent access to a system or domain.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-3914Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-3115Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-3932Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2024-13041Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2024-6356Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2026-12436Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2025-1278Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2024-12619Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2025-4979Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2025-2408Same product: Gitlab Gitlab

Affected Assets

gitlab
gitlab
16.0.0 — 16.4.4 · 16.5 — 16.5.4 · 16.6 — 16.6.2

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

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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.

IA-4 Identifier Management
addresses: CWE-286

Directly implements correct management of identifiers for individuals, groups, roles, services, and devices.

PS-5 Personnel Transfer
addresses: CWE-286

Requires confirmation and adjustment of user access rights during personnel transfers, mitigating incorrect user management.

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.AA-01 mostly match
prevents

Directly addresses management of user identities and credentials throughout their lifecycle.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Covers policy-driven definition and review of user permissions and entitlements.

PR.AA-02 partial match
prevents

Supports proper user onboarding by binding verified identities to credentials.

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.5.16 Identity management mostly match
prevents

Identity management directly governs the full lifecycle of user accounts, preventing incorrect user management.

A.5.18 Access rights mostly match
prevents

Access rights provisioning and de-provisioning ensure users are correctly created, modified, and removed.

A.6.5 Responsibilities after termination or change of employment mostly match
prevents

Responsibilities after termination or change of employment address removal of user access but not ongoing user management.

A.8.2 Privileged access rights mostly match
prevents

Privileged access rights assume correct user accounts exist; the control does not manage user creation or removal.

A.5.15 Access control partial match
prevents

Access control policies rely on accurate user management but do not themselves define user lifecycle processes.

A.8.3 Information access restriction partial match
mitigates

Information access restriction depends on properly managed users but does not address user management itself.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 9 (1 rule)
  • V-271707 OL 9 must enable the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) interface for SSHD. prevents CWE-286
RHEL 9 (1 rule)
  • V-257986 RHEL 9 must enable the Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM) interface for SSHD. prevents CWE-286

References