CVE-2023-0921: Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling in GitLab

Severity: medium (CVSS 4.3 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 84.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-06-06 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-770

Description

A lack of length validation in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 8.3 before 15.10.8, 15.11 before 15.11.7, and 16.0 before 16.0.2 allows an authenticated attacker to create a large Issue description via GraphQL which, when repeatedly requested, saturates CPU usage.

Affected products

GitLab: from 8.3.0 before 15.10.8; from 15.11.0 before 15.11.7; from 16.0.0 before 16.0.2 — fixed in 15.10.8, 15.11.7, 16.0.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: GitLab 15.10.8, 15.11.7, 16.0.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2023/CVE-2023-0921.json
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/392433
https://hackerone.com/reports/1869839
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2023/CVE-2023-0921.json
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/392433
https://hackerone.com/reports/1869839

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