Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-44399

Auth Bypass in Zitadel ≤ 2.37.2

Auth Bypass
Published
10 October 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 5.3
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0053 42th percentile
Risk Priority 45 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-44399 is a medium-severity Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password (CWE-640) vulnerability in Zitadel Zitadel. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Valid Accounts (T1078); ranked at the 42th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A07:2025 Authentication Failures

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

ZITADEL provides identity infrastructure. In versions 2.37.2 and prior, ZITADEL administrators can enable a setting called "Ignoring unknown usernames" which helps mitigate attacks that try to guess/enumerate usernames. While this settings was properly working during the authentication process it did…

more

not work correctly on the password reset flow. This meant that even if this feature was active that an attacker could use the password reset function to verify if an account exist within ZITADEL. This bug has been patched in versions 2.37.3 and 2.38.0. No known workarounds are available.

CWE(s)
CWE-640

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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 →
T1110 Brute Force Credential Access
Adversaries may use brute force techniques to gain access to accounts when passwords are unknown or when password hashes are obtained.
attack.mitre.org →
T1110.001 Password Guessing Credential Access
Adversaries with no prior knowledge of legitimate credentials within the system or environment may guess passwords to attempt access to accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-49097Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2025-64101Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2025-64102Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2024-32868Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2025-31123Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2025-57770Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2024-41952Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2026-23511Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2025-64103Same product: Zitadel Zitadel
CVE-2024-47000Same product: Zitadel Zitadel

Affected Assets

zitadel
zitadel
≤ 2.37.2

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)
  • V7.4.3

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-5 Authenticator Management
addresses: CWE-640

Establishing procedures for lost or compromised authenticators addresses weak password recovery mechanisms.

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

Credential lifecycle management directly includes password reset/recovery flows.

PR.AA-02 mostly match
prevents

Identity proofing is the core control that prevents weak or bypassed recovery mechanisms.

PR.AA-03 partial match
prevents

Authentication policy covers strength/MFA but does not address recovery path weaknesses.

PR.PS-06 partial match
prevents

Secure SDLC reduces implementation flaws but is not specific to password-recovery design.

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.5.17 Authentication information partial match
degrades

Strong authentication-information lifecycle rules directly address weak password-recovery flows.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure-SDLC practices can embed strong recovery design, yet the control is broader than this single weakness.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application-security requirements can mandate secure recovery flows, but the control covers many other requirements.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure-coding standards can prevent weak recovery implementations, yet the control is wider in scope.

A.8.5 Secure authentication partial match
mitigates

Secure-authentication requirements include robust forgotten-password procedures.

A.5.18 Access rights none match
none

Proper access-rights provisioning can limit who can trigger recovery, but does not fix the recovery mechanism itself.

References