CVE-2023-1178Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Victim code execution via colliding Git refs

Published May 3, 2023 · Updated Feb 12, 2025

Code injection in affected GitLab CE/EE releases allows remote authenticated users to substitute malicious tag or release archives. A tag named like refs/merge-requests/ID/head appears to reference a benign commit, but archive generation resolves the colliding internal merge-request ref and returns attacker-controlled files. Developer-level project access and a victim who downloads and executes the archive are required; the resulting code runs on the victim's system.

CVSS severity5.7
Medium
EPSS probability0.89%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Code injection in affected GitLab CE/EE releases allows remote authenticated users to substitute malicious tag or release archives. A tag named like refs/merge-requests/ID/head appears to reference a benign commit, but archive generation resolves the colliding internal merge-request ref and returns attacker-controlled files. Developer-level project access and a victim who downloads and executes the archive are required; the resulting code runs on the victim's system.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-1178
Published
May 3, 2023
Updated
Feb 12, 2025
Vendor
GitLab
Product
GitLab
Classifications
CWE-94, T1204.002
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 3, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Feb 12, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=>=15.10, <15.10.5
  2. Affected versionversion=>=15.11, <15.11.1
  3. Affected versionversion=>=8.6, <15.9.6

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

GitLab · GitLabversion=>=15.10, <15.10.5; version=>=15.11, <15.11.1; version=>=8.6, <15.9.6

Published CVSS scores

5.7GitLab Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-94Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
T1204.002Malicious File

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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