CVE-2023-5198 Incorrect Authorization in GitLab

What is CVE-2023-5198?

CVE-2023-5198 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in Gitlab Gitlab, published on 29 Sep 2023. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

An issue has been discovered in GitLab affecting all versions prior to 16.2.7, all versions starting from 16.3 before 16.3.5, and all versions starting from 16.4 before 16.4.1. It was possible for a removed project member to write to protected branches using deploy keys.

Weakness: CWE-863

Which versions are affected by CVE-2023-5198?

1 open source package ship an affected version, including gitlab. It affects 1 product.

Products include Gitlab Gitlab.

How do I fix CVE-2023-5198?

Upgrade gitlab to a fixed version for your release line: 16.2.8, 16.3.5 or 16.4.1.

Upgrade, and check permissions on every request on the server, not only in the interface. More about Missing authorization.

Is CVE-2023-5198 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2023-5198 exists.

Other vulnerabilities in Gitlab Gitlab

• CVE-2026-97229 GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition Integer Overflow or Wraparound Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2026-85706 GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition Path Traversal Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2023-7028 GitLab Community and Enterprise Editions Improper Access Control Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2021-22205 GitLab Community and Enterprise Editions Remote Code Execution Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2021-39935 GitLab Community and Enterprise Editions Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) Exploited Medium 6.8

All Gitlab Gitlab vulnerabilities

Sources

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

Also known as BIT-gitlab-2023-5198, GHSA-8f5w-v7hr-cxv5, UBUNTU-CVE-2023-5198.