CVE-2023-49097 ZITADEL vulnerable account takeover via malicious host header injection

What is CVE-2023-49097?

CVE-2023-49097 is a high-severity vulnerability in zitadel, published on 30 Nov 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

ZITADEL is an identity infrastructure system. ZITADEL uses the notification triggering requests Forwarded or X-Forwarded-Host header to build the button link sent in emails for confirming a password reset with the emailed code. If this header is overwritten and a user clicks the link to a malicious site in the email, the secret code can be retrieved and used to reset the users password and take over his account. Accounts with MFA or Passwordless enabled can not be taken over by this attack. This issue has been patched in versions 2.41.6, 2.40.10 and 2.39.9.

Weakness: CWE-640

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-49097?

6 open source packages ship an affected version, including github.com/zitadel/zitadel. It affects 1 product.

Products include Zitadel Zitadel.

How do I fix CVE-2023-49097?

Upgrade github.com/zitadel/zitadel to a fixed version for your release line: 2.39.9, 2.40.10 or 2.41.6.

Is CVE-2023-49097 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2023-49097 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in zitadel

• CVE-2026-29191 ZITADEL: 1-Click Account Takeover via XSS in /saml-post Endpoint Critical 9.3
• CVE-2025-67494 ZITADEL Vulnerable to Unauthenticated Full-Read SSRF via V2 Login Critical 9.3
• CVE-2025-27507 IDOR Vulnerabilities in ZITADEL's Admin API that Primarily Impact LDAP Configurations Critical 9.0
• CVE-2025-64103 Zitadel Bypass Second Authentication Factor High 8.7
• CVE-2025-31123 Zitadel Expired JWT Keys Usable for Authorization Grants High 8.7

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-2wmj-46rj-qm2w.