Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-4912

DoS in Gitlab 10.5.0 – 16.4.3

Published
01 December 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 2.6
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
EPSS Score 0.0058 44th percentile
Risk Priority 15 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-4912 is a low-severity Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (CWE-770) vulnerability in Gitlab Gitlab. Its CVSS base score is 2.6 (Low).

Operationally, ranked at the 44th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

An issue has been discovered in GitLab EE affecting all versions starting from 10.5 before 16.4.3, all versions starting from 16.5 before 16.5.3, all versions starting from 16.6 before 16.6.1. It was possible for an attacker to cause a client-side…

more

denial of service using malicious crafted mermaid diagram input.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-5963Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2024-2454Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2025-11042Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2025-10858Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2025-8099Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2025-12576Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2025-3111Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2025-0639Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2025-10497Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2025-1477Same product: Gitlab Gitlab

Affected Assets

gitlab
gitlab
16.6.0 · 10.5.0 — 16.4.3 · 16.5.0 — 16.5.3

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V15.4.4

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.

addresses: CWE-770

This control implements explicit throttling on session allocation, addressing the weakness of allocating resources without limits.

addresses: CWE-770

Plan testing exercises resource allocation limits and throttling during simulated failures, directly addressing weaknesses that allow unbounded resource use.

addresses: CWE-770

Contingency plan updates ensure recovery strategies address unbounded resource allocation, making it harder for attackers to exploit lack of throttling to cause prolonged outages.

addresses: CWE-770

Provides continuity when unbounded resource allocation at the primary site leads to exhaustion and downtime.

addresses: CWE-770

Alternate services allow operations to continue when primary allocation of resources lacks limits or throttling.

addresses: CWE-770

Explicit planning of security-related actions requires defining limits, windows, and resource allocations, making allocation without throttling far less likely.

addresses: CWE-770

Measures of performance include tracking allocation behavior and throttling effectiveness, reducing the window for resource exhaustion attacks.

addresses: CWE-770

Imposes an inactivity-based limit on network resource allocation, throttling the number of concurrently held connections.

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.IR-04 mostly match
degrades

Monitoring capacity and taking action to maintain availability directly reduces unchecked resource allocation.

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.

detects

Baseline comparison of CPU, memory and bandwidth usage helps surface uncontrolled resource allocations before they cause service degradation.

prevents

Capacity projections and elasticity measures ensure that allocation requests are bounded and can be throttled, reducing the window in which an attacker can force unbounded resource reservations.

mitigates

Defining retention periods and deletion schedules for backup copies prevents indefinite accumulation of data on storage media without corresponding resource-management controls.

mitigates

Architectural redundancy and automatic failover limit the impact of an attacker who forces excessive allocations, because spare capacity can absorb the load until the primary instance recovers.

none

Documented incident response procedures that include activation of continuity plans and controlled recovery help ensure that resource consumption triggered by an incident is bounded and managed rather than left unbounded.

none

Mandating tested continuity procedures that preserve or replace resource-limiting controls prevents an attacker from exploiting the absence of throttling mechanisms during an outage.

References