CVE-2023-2825 Exploit Detection: GitLab Urges Users to Promptly Patch a Maximum Severity Flaw

GitLab has recently issued its latest critical security update v. 16.0.1, addressing a path traverse vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-2825 with a CVSS score reaching the maximum limit of 10.0. The update affects installations running version 16.0.0., with earlier software versions being not impacted. The successful exploitation of a highly critical security bug enables unauthenticated adversaries to abuse sensitive information due to a system compromise.

Detect CVE-2023-2825 Exploitation Attempts

In view that CVE-2023-2825 obtains the highest severity score and might affect over 30M GitLab users, cybersecurity professionals require a reliable source of detection content to identify possible exploitation attempts and proactively defend the organizational infrastructure. SOC Prime’s Platform offers a curated Sigma rule aimed at detecting exploits for GitLab Arbitrary File Read vulnerability (CVE-2023-2825).

Possible GitLab CVE-2023-2825 Exploitation Attempt (via webserver)

This Sigma rule by the SOC Prime Team is compatible with 18 SIEM, EDR, XDR, and BDP solutions and aligned with MITRE ATT&CK framework v12 addressing the Initial Access tactic with Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190) as the corresponding technique. 

To outsmart the attackers and always keep up with the threats associated with emerging vulnerabilities, SOC Prime provides curated detection content helping organizations to risk-optimize their cybersecurity posture. By clicking the Explore Detections button, organizations can gain instant access to even more detection algorithms aimed to help identify the malicious behavior linked to the exploitation of trending vulnerabilities. For streamlined threat investigation, teams can also drill down to relevant metadata, including ATT&CK and CTI references.

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CVE-2023-2825 Description

Proactive detection of vulnerability exploitation was among the top 3 content priorities over the period of 2021-2022 and still holds one of the leading positions due to the ever-emerging numbers of exploits. On March 23, 2023, GitLab issued its Critical Security Release v. 16.0.1, addressing a nefarious vulnerability known as CVE-2023-2825, which affects GitLab installation version 16.0.0. CVE-2023-2825 was first uncovered and reported by a cyber defender under a monicker “pwnie” who identified the flaw on the HackOne bug bounty program.

The security flaw stems from a path traversal glitch that enables unauthenticated adversaries to read arbitrary files on the server in case an attachment exists in a public project nested within at least five groups. The attacks leveraging CVE-2023-2825 might expose sensitive data,  including software code, user creds, tokens, and more.

Regardless of the high criticality of the freshly uncovered vulnerability and its potential exposure of impacted applications to severe threats, there is no evidence that CVE-2023-2825 has been exploited in the wild. Although the software vendor has not provided extensive details on the security bug, more insights are planned to be shared next month. As a potential mitigation measure, GitLab recommends instantly upgrading installations leveraging the impacted version to the latest one.

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