CVE-2023-5963: 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: 0.5% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2023-11-06 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-770

Description

An issue has been discovered in GitLab EE with Advanced Search affecting all versions from 13.9 to 16.3.6, 16.4 prior to 16.4.2 and 16.5 prior to 16.5.1 that could allow a denial of service in the Advanced Search function by chaining too many syntax operators.

Affected products

GitLab: from 13.9.0 through 16.3.6; from 16.4.0 before 16.4.2; 16.5.0 — fixed in 16.4.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: GitLab 16.4.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/423468
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/423468

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