CVE-2023-23761 Improper authentication vulnerability in GitHub Enterprise Server leading to modification of secret gists

High 7.7 Published 7 Apr 2023 Updated 7 Feb 2025

An attacker can modify other users' secret gists by bypassing authentication via SSH certificate authority, requiring knowledge of the gist URL.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: A user has to click or open something
Fix: None listed

What is CVE-2023-23761?

CVE-2023-23761 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in Github Enterprise Server, published on 7 Apr 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

An improper authentication vulnerability was identified in GitHub Enterprise Server that allowed an unauthorized actor to modify other users' secret gists by authenticating through an SSH certificate authority. To do so, a user had to know the secret gist's URL. This vulnerability affected all versions of GitHub Enterprise Server prior to 3.9 and was fixed in versions 3.4.18, 3.5.15, 3.6.11, 3.7.8, and 3.8.1. This vulnerability was reported via the GitHub Bug Bounty program.

Weakness: CWE-287

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-23761?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Github Enterprise Server.

How do I fix CVE-2023-23761?

No fix has been published for CVE-2023-23761 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade, and rotate credentials and sessions that may have been exposed. More about Authentication bypass.

Is CVE-2023-23761 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-23761 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Github Enterprise Server vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as GHSA-q7wq-398w-6957.