CVE-2023-2182 in Enterprise Edition
Summary
by MITRE • 05/04/2023
An issue has been discovered in GitLab EE affecting all versions starting from 15.10 before 15.10.5, all versions starting from 15.11 before 15.11.1. Under certain conditions when OpenID Connect is enabled on an instance, it may allow users who are marked as 'external' to become 'regular' users thus leading to privilege escalation for those users.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/17/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-2182 represents a critical privilege escalation flaw within GitLab Enterprise Edition that undermines the authentication and authorization mechanisms of the platform. This security weakness specifically affects instances where OpenID Connect authentication is enabled, creating a pathway for malicious actors to manipulate user access levels. The vulnerability exists in versions prior to 15.10.5 and 15.11.1, indicating that organizations running these older releases face significant risk of unauthorized privilege elevation. The flaw directly impacts the user management system by allowing external users to transition to regular user status, thereby gaining access to resources and permissions that should remain restricted to authenticated internal users.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from improper validation of user authentication states within the OpenID Connect integration framework. When OpenID Connect is enabled, the system should maintain strict separation between external users who are typically restricted in their access privileges and regular users who have full access rights. However, the flaw allows for a state transition where external users can be incorrectly classified as regular users during the authentication process. This misclassification occurs due to insufficient input validation and state management checks within the user provisioning logic, creating a condition where user attributes are not properly verified before access permissions are granted. The vulnerability specifically exploits the user role assignment mechanism during authentication flows, where external user flags are not properly maintained or validated.
The operational impact of CVE-2023-2182 extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it fundamentally compromises the security model of GitLab instances that rely on OpenID Connect for authentication. Organizations running vulnerable versions face the risk of unauthorized access to sensitive repositories, code modifications, and administrative functions that should be restricted to legitimate internal users. The vulnerability can be particularly dangerous in environments where GitLab serves as a central code repository and collaboration platform, as external users who gain regular user status can potentially access confidential source code, modify project configurations, or even escalate privileges further within the system. This flaw directly violates the principle of least privilege and can lead to data breaches, code tampering, and unauthorized system modifications that may go undetected for extended periods.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2023-2182 should prioritize immediate patching of affected GitLab instances to versions 15.10.5 or 15.11.1, respectively, which contain the necessary security fixes. Organizations should also implement additional monitoring of user authentication logs to detect any suspicious user status changes or unauthorized access attempts. The security configuration should include disabling OpenID Connect authentication for instances where it is not strictly required, or implementing additional access controls and user verification mechanisms. According to CWE guidelines, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 which addresses improper access control, and it maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts and legitimate credentials. Organizations should conduct comprehensive audits of their user access permissions and review their authentication integration settings to ensure that user role assignments remain consistent with security policies. The remediation process should also include verification of user access logs to identify any potential exploitation attempts that may have occurred before patching was applied.