Service interruption via unbounded branch and tag listings
Published Sep 1, 2023 · Updated Jun 2, 2026
Resource exhaustion in affected GitLab versions allows remote authenticated users to interrupt service through repository API requests. Gitlab::Pagination::GitalyKeysetPager accepts pagination=none for branch and tag endpoints, returning all references instead of enforcing the 100-item cap. Low-privileged API access and a sufficiently large repository are required; generating the unrestricted response can exhaust server resources.
Summary
What happened
Resource exhaustion in affected GitLab versions allows remote authenticated users to interrupt service through repository API requests. Gitlab::Pagination::GitalyKeysetPager accepts pagination=none for branch and tag endpoints, returning all references instead of enforcing the 100-item cap. Low-privileged API access and a sufficiently large repository are required; generating the unrestricted response can exhaust server resources.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2023-4647
- Published
- Sep 1, 2023
- Updated
- Jun 2, 2026
- Vendor
- GitLab
- Product
- GitLab
- Classifications
- CWE-770, T1499.004
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 1, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jun 2, 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=15.2 <16.1.5
- Affected versionversion=16.2 <16.2.5
- Affected versionversion=16.3 <16.3.1
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
- GitLab issue 414502 reproduction stepsproof 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
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