CVE-2023-5226 - CVE House
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Status published Medium CVE-2023-5226

Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection') in GitLab

Vulnerability Description

An issue has been discovered in GitLab affecting all versions before 16.4.3, all versions starting from 16.5 before 16.5.3, all versions starting from 16.6 before 16.6.1. Under certain circumstances, a malicious actor bypass prohibited branch checks using a specially crafted branch name to manipulate repository content in the UI.

Impact Analysis

Refer to official advisory for detailed impact metrics.

Remediation

Ensure systems are updated to the latest vendor-supplied patch levels.

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Credits & Attribution

The following person or organization is credited with identifying this vulnerability, as recorded in the NVD database:

  • Thanks [shells3c](https://hackerone.com/shells3c) for reporting this vulnerability through our HackerOne bug bounty program

References

More from GitLab

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CVE-2025-9958
Insertion of Sensitive Information Into Sent Data in GitLab
High 7.7
CVE-2025-9957
Incorrect Authorization in GitLab
Low 2.7
CVE-2025-9825
Missing Authorization in GitLab
Medium 5
CVE-2025-9642
Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') in GitLab
High 8.7
CVE-2025-9484
Missing Authorization in GitLab
Medium 4.3

Affected Vendor

Affected Software

GitLab
Vulnerable Versions:
0, 16.5, 16.6

Timeline

Official Publish: December 1st, 2023
Last Modified: April 23rd, 2026
Added to House: July 22nd, 2026

CVSS Vectors

V3: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N

Weaknesses (CWE)

CWE-94

MITRE ATT&CK TTPs

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application
Initial Access
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter
Execution
T1505.003 Web Shell
Persistence
T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer
Command and Control
T1565.002 Stored Data Manipulation
Impact