Authenticated file disclosure via tar link traversal
Published Aug 1, 2023 · Updated Nov 20, 2025
Path traversal in GitLab 8.10 through 16.0.7, 16.1.0 through 16.1.2, and 16.2.0 through 16.2.1 allows remote authenticated users to read files. During project-export import, GNU tar follows a crafted sequence of symbolic and hard links, creating an imported link to a file outside the extraction directory. A user permitted to import an export archive can expose files readable by the git service account through the resulting project content.
Summary
What happened
Path traversal in GitLab 8.10 through 16.0.7, 16.1.0 through 16.1.2, and 16.2.0 through 16.2.1 allows remote authenticated users to read files. During project-export import, GNU tar follows a crafted sequence of symbolic and hard links, creating an imported link to a file outside the extraction directory. A user permitted to import an export archive can expose files readable by the git service account through the resulting project content.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-3385
- Published
- Aug 1, 2023
- Updated
- Nov 20, 2025
- Vendor
- GitLab
- Product
- GitLab
- Classifications
- CWE-22, T1005
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Aug 1, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Nov 20, 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.
- Affected versionversion=16.1.0 <16.1.3
- Affected versionversion=16.2.0 <16.2.2
- Affected versionversion=8.10 <16.0.8
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
- Project-export hard-link file-disclosure proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo