Project Owner escalation via access token rotation
Published Dec 17, 2023 · Updated May 31, 2026
GitLab EE 16.0 through 16.4.3, 16.5 through 16.5.3, and 16.6 through 16.6.1 allows remote authenticated users to gain Owner access. The project access token rotation API permits a Maintainer to rotate an Owner-created token and returns the replacement token while preserving its Owner role. Exploitation requires Maintainer access to the same project and yields Owner capabilities for that project through the returned token.
Summary
What happened
GitLab EE 16.0 through 16.4.3, 16.5 through 16.5.3, and 16.6 through 16.6.1 allows remote authenticated users to gain Owner access. The project access token rotation API permits a Maintainer to rotate an Owner-created token and returns the replacement token while preserving its Owner role. Exploitation requires Maintainer access to the same project and yields Owner capabilities for that project through the returned token.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-3907
- Published
- Dec 17, 2023
- Updated
- May 31, 2026
- Vendor
- GitLab
- Product
- GitLab
- Classifications
- CWE-286, T1068
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Dec 17, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 31, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=16.0 <16.4.4
- Affected versionversion=16.5 <16.5.4
- Affected versionversion=16.6 <16.6.2
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 access token rotation API reproduction stepsproof of concept · demonstrated
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Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
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