Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop') in GitLab

published 2023-11-06 3 y ago modified 2026-09-08 2 mo ago also BIT-gitlab-2023-5825 , EUVD-2023-58108

cvss: 6.5; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 0.8%; EPSS 0.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 55%
public exploits: 0; none known

An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 16.2 before 16.3.6, all versions starting from 16.4 before 16.4.2, all versions starting from 16.5 before 16.5.1. A low-privileged attacker can point a CI/CD Component to an incorrect path and cause the server to exhaust all available memory through an infinite loop and cause Denial of Service.

Patch / fix

fixed in 2

bitnami gitlab 16.3.6, 16.4.2, 16.5.1
GitLab GitLab 16.3.6, 16.4.2, 16.5.1

CISA SSVC

Exploitation: Proof of concept is public
Automatable: no
Technical impact: partial
Assessed: 2 y ago (2024-07-24)

Exploit prediction

0.77% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 55% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

hackerone.com https://hackerone.com/reports/2218566 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	6.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD	3.1	6.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
OSV	3.1	6.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
bitnami	gitlab	>=16.2.0, <16.3.6 >=16.4.0, <16.4.2 >=16.5.0, <16.5.1	16.3.6 16.4.2 16.5.1

Affected products

GitLab GitLab

Classification

Weakness

CWE-835 Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition

Technology feeds

GitLab rss critical rss

References

hackerone.com /reports/2218566
technical-description, exploit, permissions-required, web
gitlab.com /gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/428984
issue-tracking, permissions-required, vendor-advisory, advisory
nvd.nist.gov /vuln/detail/CVE-2023-5825
web

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Enhance with deb and rpm package type records.

Summary