CVE-2023-0632 in GitLab
Summary
by MITRE • 08/02/2023
An issue has been discovered in GitLab affecting all versions starting from 15.2 before 16.0.8, all versions starting from 16.1 before 16.1.3, all versions starting from 16.2 before 16.2.2. A Regular Expression Denial of Service was possible by using crafted payloads to search Harbor Registry.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/03/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-0632 represents a critical security flaw in GitLab's handling of search operations within Harbor Registry integration. This issue affects multiple version ranges including 15.2 through 16.0.7, 16.1 through 16.1.2, and 16.2 through 16.2.1, demonstrating the widespread impact across GitLab's release cycle. The vulnerability manifests as a Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) condition that occurs when users submit specifically crafted search payloads to the Harbor Registry functionality. This type of vulnerability falls under CWE-400 which categorizes issues related to resource exhaustion and denial of service attacks. The attack vector exploits the regular expression matching process used by GitLab's search functionality when interfacing with Harbor Registry, allowing malicious actors to consume excessive computational resources through carefully constructed input patterns.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise the availability and performance of GitLab instances that utilize Harbor Registry integration. When exploited, the crafted payloads cause the regular expression engine to enter into a computationally expensive state where it repeatedly backtracks through input patterns, consuming CPU resources at an exponential rate. This behavior directly aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which describes resource exhaustion attacks targeting availability. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates at the search layer where legitimate users might perform routine operations, making detection more challenging and potentially allowing attackers to maintain persistent access while consuming system resources. Organizations using GitLab with Harbor Registry integration face significant risk of service degradation or complete unavailability during exploitation attempts.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-0632 primarily focus on immediate version upgrades to patched releases including GitLab 16.0.8, 16.1.3, and 16.2.2 respectively. Administrators should prioritize applying these patches across all affected GitLab instances to eliminate the vulnerability at its source. Additionally, implementing input validation and sanitization measures can provide defense-in-depth protection by limiting the complexity and length of search payloads that can be submitted to the system. Network-level protections such as rate limiting and request filtering can help detect and prevent exploitation attempts before they consume significant system resources. Organizations should also consider implementing monitoring solutions that track unusual CPU utilization patterns or search operation performance degradation that might indicate ReDoS attack activity. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of regular security patch management and proper input validation practices in preventing exploitation of regular expression processing flaws that can lead to system-wide availability issues.