CVE-2023-6502
📋 TL;DR
A denial-of-service vulnerability in GitLab allows attackers to crash the service by creating specially crafted wiki pages. This affects all GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition instances running vulnerable versions. The attack requires authenticated user access to create wiki pages.
💻 Affected Systems
- GitLab Community Edition
- GitLab Enterprise Edition
📦 What is this software?
Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete service unavailability affecting all GitLab functionality including repositories, CI/CD pipelines, and user management until service restart.
Likely Case
Temporary service disruption affecting wiki functionality and potentially other GitLab components until the malicious page is removed or service is restarted.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper access controls limiting wiki creation to trusted users and monitoring for suspicious activity.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires authenticated user with wiki creation permissions. The vulnerability is in wiki page processing logic.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 16.10.6, 16.11.3, or 17.0.1
Vendor Advisory: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/433534
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup your GitLab instance. 2. Update to patched version using your deployment method (Omnibus, Helm, source). 3. Restart GitLab services. 4. Verify update with version check.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict wiki creation permissions
allTemporarily restrict wiki creation to administrators only to reduce attack surface
# Configure via GitLab Admin Area -> Settings -> General -> Visibility and access controls
Disable wiki functionality
linuxCompletely disable wiki features if not required
# Set in gitlab.rb: gitlab_rails['gitlab_default_projects_features_wiki'] = false
# Run: gitlab-ctl reconfigure
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict access controls for wiki creation and monitor for suspicious wiki page creation
- Implement rate limiting and monitoring for repeated wiki creation attempts
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check GitLab version against affected ranges. Review wiki creation permissions and audit logs for suspicious activity.Check Version:
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info | grep 'Version:'Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm GitLab version is 16.10.6, 16.11.3, 17.0.1 or later. Test wiki functionality works normally.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual wiki page creation patterns
- Service crash/restart logs
- Error logs related to wiki processing
Network Indicators:
- Sudden drop in GitLab service availability
- Increased error responses from wiki endpoints
SIEM Query:
source="gitlab" AND ("wiki" AND ("error" OR "crash" OR "denial"))