CVE-2023-5207
Gitlab 16.0.0 – 16.2.8
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:NCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-5207 is a high-severity Execution with Unnecessary Privileges (CWE-250) vulnerability in Gitlab Gitlab. Its CVSS base score is 8.2 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Data Obfuscation (T1001); ranked in the top 31% 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 vulnerability in GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition permits an authenticated attacker to trigger arbitrary pipeline execution while impersonating another user. The flaw affects all versions from 16.0 prior to 16.2.8, from 16.3 prior to 16.3.5, and from 16.4 prior to 16.4.1, and carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 8.2 reflecting high confidentiality and integrity impact under conditions of high attack complexity and scoped change.
An authenticated attacker with low privileges can exploit the issue over the network without user interaction to run pipelines in the context of a different user, thereby obtaining unauthorized access to that user’s resources and actions while avoiding direct impact on availability.
The referenced GitLab issues and HackerOne report point to remediation through application of the listed patched releases, which close the pipeline execution path.
EPSS remained low after disclosure but rose materially to a peak of 0.0718 on 2025-01-22 before receding, indicating a period of increased exploitation interest that warrants renewed attention.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-57538
Vulnerability Data
A vulnerability was discovered in GitLab CE and EE affecting all versions starting 16.0 prior to 16.2.8, 16.3 prior to 16.3.5, and 16.4 prior to 16.4.1. An authenticated attacker could perform arbitrary pipeline execution under the context of another user.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 4 hardening rules · 4 OS baselines
V10.2.3V13.2.2
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.
Policy promotes least privilege by defining necessary privileges and management commitment to them.
Supervision detects and allows removal of unnecessary privileges that enable execution with excess rights.
Reviewing accounts for compliance, disabling/removing unneeded accounts, and aligning with termination processes prevents execution with unnecessary privileges.
Separation of duties prevents any single user from holding all privileges needed to complete a critical task, directly reducing execution with unnecessary privileges.
Directly prevents execution with more privileges than needed for assigned tasks.
Role-based training on least privilege principles reduces the chance personnel assign or retain unnecessary privileges.
Analysis of audit records can identify execution with unnecessary privileges through unusual activity patterns.
Automatic termination after a defined period eliminates unnecessary privileges from persistent 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.AA-05 directly enforces least privilege so largely eliminates CWE-250 at design time, yet the weakness can still arise from runtime escalation paths, third-party code, or misapplied role definitions outside this single control.
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.5.15's policy, requirements, and rules for determining/minimizing access rights (incl. privileged access restrictions, need-to-know, least-privilege-like mapping, and role-based consistency) directly stop most unnecessary-privilege execution by design; bounded remainder is runtime elevation or misconfigured enforcement that still requires other controls (e.g. 8.2, 8.3) to act.
Requiring explicit justification and time-limited grants discourages the routine allocation of unnecessary privileges that would otherwise allow execution with more rights than required.
Independent scrutiny can identify processes or services still running with unnecessary privileges and drive their reduction before an attacker can abuse them.
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` (higher-evidence rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Windows 10 (1 rule)
- V-220712 Only accounts responsible for the administration of a system must have Administrator rights on the system. blocks CWE-250
Windows Server 2016 (1 rule)
- V-225007 Only administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system must have Administrator rights on the system. blocks CWE-250
Windows Server 2019 (1 rule)
- V-205746 Windows Server 2019 must only allow Administrators responsible for the member server or standalone or nondomain-joined system to have Administrator rights on the system. blocks CWE-250