CVE-2023-49097

Auth Bypass in Zitadel 2.39.0 – 2.39.9

Public PoCAuth Bypass

Published

30 November 2023

Modified

21 November 2024

Patch / advisory

View advisory

CVSS Score v3.1 8.1

Click a component to see what it means

Raw vector

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

EPSS Score 0.0077 55th percentile

Risk Priority 61 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-2023-49097 is a high-severity Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password (CWE-640) vulnerability in Zitadel Zitadel. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Junk Data (T1001.001); ranked in the top 45% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-2852

Vulnerability Data

ZITADEL is an identity infrastructure system. ZITADEL uses the notification triggering requests Forwarded or X-Forwarded-Host header to build the button link sent in emails for confirming a password reset with the emailed code. If this header is overwritten and a…

user clicks the link to a malicious site in the email, the secret code can be retrieved and used to reset the users password and take over his account. Accounts with MFA or Passwordless enabled can not be taken over by this attack. This issue has been patched in versions 2.41.6, 2.40.10 and 2.39.9.

CWE(s): CWE-640

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.001 Junk Data Command And Control

Adversaries may add junk data to protocols used for command and control to make detection more difficult.

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.003 NTDS Credential Access

Adversaries may attempt to access or create a copy of the Active Directory domain database in order to steal credential information, as well as obtain other information about domain members such as devices, users, and access rights.

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.006 DCSync Credential Access

Adversaries may attempt to access credentials and other sensitive information by abusing a Windows Domain Controller's application programming interface (API)(Citation: Microsoft DRSR Dec 2017) (Citation: Microsoft GetNCCChanges) (Citati…

attack.mitre.org →

T1003.007 Proc Filesystem Credential Access

Adversaries may gather credentials from the proc filesystem or `/proc`.

attack.mitre.org →

T1010 Application Window Discovery Discovery

Adversaries may attempt to get a listing of open application windows.

attack.mitre.org →

T1016 System Network Configuration Discovery Discovery

Adversaries may look for details about the network configuration and settings, such as IP and/or MAC addresses, of systems they access or through information discovery of remote systems.

attack.mitre.org →

Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

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Affected Assets

zitadel

2.39.0 — 2.39.9 · 2.40.0 — 2.40.10 · 2.41.0 — 2.41.6

Mitigating Controls

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 partial match

blocks

Credential lifecycle management directly includes password reset/recovery flows.

PR.AA-02 partial match

blocks

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

PR.AA-03 partial match

blocks

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

PR.PS-06 partial match

blocks

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.5.14 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

degrades

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

A.5.18 Access rights partial match

removes

A.8.10 Information deletion partial match