Skip to content
Noroxi
NVD / CVE Program· CNA GitLab

CVE-2023-7028: Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password in GitLab

CriticalCVSS 9.8 · v3.1KEVWeaponized Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Now (action score 97/100)

  • CISA has confirmed exploitation in the wild (May 1, 2024). Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: May 22, 2024.
  • A ready-made attack module is public (Metasploit, Nuclei); exploiting it takes no special expertise.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 94.4% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 99.8% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • According to CISA the attack is automatable: targets can be found by mass scanning.
  • Fixed version: GitLab GitLab 16.1.6, 16.2.9, 16.3.7.
  • Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Patch today or shut off access. Upgrade to GitLab GitLab 16.1.6, 16.2.9, 16.3.7 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · CISA KEV · FIRST EPSS

An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 16.1 prior to 16.1.6, 16.2 prior to 16.2.9, 16.3 prior to 16.3.7, 16.4 prior to 16.4.5, 16.5 prior to 16.5.6, 16.6 prior to 16.6.4, and 16.7 prior to 16.7.2 in which user account password reset emails could be delivered to an unverified email address.

Published
Jan 12, 2024
Updated
Aug 15, 2026
EPSS
94.4% · 99th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

97

Now

Patch today or shut off access.

CVSS
39 / 40 · 9.8 / 10
CISA KEV
30 / 30 · Listed
EPSS
28 / 30 · 94.4%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
active
Automatable
yes
Technical impact
total

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

CNA vs NVD score

NVD
9.8
CNA · GitLab
10.0
0.2 point gap

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N

The score given by the assigning authority versus NVD’s independent score. A gap means the severity is contested.

Actively exploited in the wild

CISA added this to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on May 1, 2024. That signals real attacks, not theory.

Remediation deadline for US federal agencies: May 22, 2024.

Get told when this record changes

  • In CISA KEV: exploitation in the wild confirmed
  • Weaponized exploit exists
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

Follow CVE-2023-7028

When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

One daily email digest (06:00 UTC); connect a webhook for KEV listings and weaponized exploits every 10 minutes on paid plans, on the hour on the free plan.

Your free account also gets you

  • CVE alerts: add the products and versions you run, get the new CVEs that affect them
  • Uptime monitoring: 1 site, instant email when it goes down
  • Add your domain: subdomains and takeover risk scanned every week (1 domain)
  • 10 scans an hour on the security tools, at most 30 a day (3 a day without an account), an API key and MCP
  • All your scans in one panel: findings, what changed in the last scan, a report per domain or per client (PDF, share link)
All free tools

Sign up with email · Have an account? Sign in

Free account, no card. Unfollow any time.

Don't want an account? Get "Exploited this week" by email every MondayDon't want an account? RSS feed for gitlab records
Is your version affected? Check it

Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

We use this product, ask for help

Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
gitlabgitlab

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (GitLab). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • GitLab GitLab

    • 16.1 and later · before 16.1.6affected · semver
    • 16.2 and later · before 16.2.9affected · semver
    • 16.3 and later · before 16.3.7affected · semver
    • 16.4 and later · before 16.4.5affected · semver
    • 16.5 and later · before 16.5.6affected · semver
    • 16.6 and later · before 16.6.4affected · semver
    • 16.7 and later · before 16.7.2affected · semver
Affected versions · NVD (7)

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • gitlab gitlab16.1.0 and later · before 16.1.6
  • gitlab gitlab16.2.0 and later · before 16.2.9
  • gitlab gitlab16.3.0 and later · before 16.3.7
  • gitlab gitlab16.4.0 and later · before 16.4.5
  • gitlab gitlab16.5.0 and later · before 16.5.6
  • gitlab gitlab16.6.0 and later · before 16.6.4
  • gitlab gitlab16.7.0 and later · before 16.7.2

Same product

gitlab: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2021-22205An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 11.9.KEV
    100Now
  • CVE-2026-85706Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') in GitLabKEV
    99Now
  • CVE-2026-97229Integer Overflow or Wraparound in GitLabKEV
    91Now

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2023-5356Jan 12, 2024 · Incorrect Authorization in GitLab
    35Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2023-6955Jan 12, 2024 · Missing Authorization in GitLab
    21Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2023-5933Jan 25, 2024 · Improper Neutralization of Script-Related HTML Tags in a Web Page (Basic XSS) in GitLab
    21Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
GitLab GitLab16.1.6Vendor (CNA)
GitLab GitLab16.2.9Vendor (CNA)
GitLab GitLab16.3.7Vendor (CNA)
GitLab GitLab16.4.5Vendor (CNA)
GitLab GitLab16.5.6Vendor (CNA)
GitLab GitLab16.6.4Vendor (CNA)
GitLab GitLab16.7.2Vendor (CNA)

Exploit status

Weaponized

A ready exploit tool or active in-the-wild use is known for this vulnerability. This should be your top priority.

Evidence

  • Metasploit module ×1
  • Exploit-DB entry ×1
  • Nuclei detection template ×1
  • Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub ×18

Noroxi does not host or link to exploit code. Metasploit module names and Nuclei template ids are shown (names, not code); Exploit-DB entries and PoC repositories are given as counts only.

Public exploit evidence
SourceKindDate
Proof-of-concept repository on GitHub18 repositories2024-01-12 → 2026-09-06
Exploit-DB entryremote2024-03-14
Metasploit moduleauxiliary/admin/http/gitlab_password_reset_account_takeoverGitLab Password Reset Account Takeoverauxiliary2024-01-11
Nuclei detection templateNuclei template CVE-2023-7028 —

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

  1. Metasploit-1 d
  2. First PoCsame day
  3. Published
  4. CISA KEV+110 d
  5. TodayNov 14, 2026+1037 d

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

Bug bounty scope

The product’s vendor appears in a public program. Matched by name; verify the scope text in the program.

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

All national notices →

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · variant or chain candidate.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-640 · Weak Password Recovery Mechanism for Forgotten Password

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

ATT&CK techniques

—

References

Show all references (1 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records