CVE-2024-6323 in Enterprise Edition
Summary
by MITRE • 06/27/2024
Improper authorization in global search in GitLab EE affecting all versions from 16.11 prior to 16.11.5 and 17.0 prior to 17.0.3 and 17.1 prior to 17.1.1 allows an attacker leak content of a private repository in a public project.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/29/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-6323 represents a critical authorization flaw within GitLab Enterprise Edition's global search functionality. This issue affects multiple version ranges including 16.11.x prior to 16.11.5, 17.0.x prior to 17.0.3, and 17.1.x prior to 17.1.1, demonstrating the widespread nature of the authorization bypass. The flaw allows unauthorized access to private repository content through public project searches, creating a significant security risk for organizations relying on GitLab's access control mechanisms. This vulnerability directly impacts GitLab's core security model by enabling attackers to circumvent expected access restrictions between private and public project boundaries.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate authorization checks within the global search functionality. When users perform searches across projects, the system fails to properly validate whether the requesting user has appropriate permissions to access the content they are attempting to retrieve. This authorization bypass occurs specifically in the global search component that aggregates results from multiple projects, including both public and private repositories. The flaw likely exists in the search query processing logic where access controls are not consistently enforced across all project types during the search operation. This issue maps to CWE-285 which describes improper authorization conditions, and represents a classic case of insufficient access control validation.
The operational impact of CVE-2024-6323 extends beyond simple information disclosure to potentially compromise entire private code repositories. Attackers can exploit this vulnerability to access sensitive source code, configuration files, and other private repository content through public project searches. This could lead to intellectual property theft, exposure of sensitive credentials, and potential exploitation of vulnerabilities within the disclosed code. The risk is particularly severe for organizations that maintain private repositories containing proprietary software, sensitive infrastructure configurations, or code that has not been publicly released. The vulnerability enables attackers to gather intelligence about private projects without requiring direct access or authentication to those specific repositories, making it a significant threat vector for targeted attacks.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including upgrading to the patched versions 16.11.5, 17.0.3, and 17.1.1 to address the authorization bypass. System administrators should also conduct thorough access control reviews to ensure no unauthorized access has occurred through this vulnerability. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this type of vulnerability under T1566 - Phishing and T1071.004 - Application Layer Protocol: DNS, as attackers may use this vulnerability to gather intelligence for more sophisticated attacks. Additionally, organizations should implement network monitoring to detect unusual search patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. Regular security assessments of search and indexing functionalities should be performed to identify similar authorization gaps in other system components. This vulnerability underscores the critical importance of comprehensive access control validation in multi-tenant systems where different user groups require distinct levels of access to shared resources.