Harbor timing attack risk

Exploitation

No confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next marks exploitation only from CISA KEV.

CVSS

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

EPSS

• CVE-2023-20902: 0.45% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 39.35 (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-03). This is a model estimate, not proof of exploitation or customer exposure.

As published by the source; long descriptions are shortened.

In the Harbor jobservice container, the comparison of secrets in the authenticator type is prone to timing attacks. The vulnerability occurs due to the following code: https://github.com/goharbor/harbor/blob/aaea068cceb4063ab89313d9785f2b40f35b0d63/src/jobservice/api/authenticator.go#L69-L69 To avoid this issue, constant time comparison should be used. Impact This attack might be possible theoretically, but no workable proof of concept is available, and access complexity is set at High. The jobservice exposes these APIs It is used to create jobs/stop job tasks and retrieve job task information. If an attacker obtains the secrets, it is possible to retrieve the job information, create a job, or stop a job task. The following versions of Harbor are involved: <=Harbor 2.8.2, <=Harbor 2.7.2, <= Harbor 2.6.x, <=Harbor 1.10.17 Patches Harbor 2.8.3, Harbor 2.7.3, Harbor 1.10.18 Workarounds Because the jobservice only exposes HTTP service to harbor-core containers, blocking any inbound…

Published by the source

10 Oct 2023, 21:29 UTC

Last modified by the source

16 Nov 2023, 19:59 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:00 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-mq6f-5xh5-hgcf

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2023-20902

Advisory: Harbor timing attack risk
IDs: CVE-2023-20902, GHSA-mq6f-5xh5-hgcf
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2023-20902 (revision 1, source checked 26 Oct 2026, 15:00 UTC)
Inventory: none attached. This brief comes from a public page and does not say whether any deployment is affected.
Severity: Medium (CVSS 5.9)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: github.com/goharbor/harbor 2.8.3, 2.7.3, 1.10.18. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go github.com/goharbor/harbor: affected < 1.10.18; >= 2.0.0, < 2.7.3; >= 2.8.0, < 2.8.3; fixed in 2.7.3, 1.10.18, 2.8.3

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go github.com/goharbor/harbor: check the installed version with your package manager.

## Supported action
Upgrade each affected component to a fixed version on its release line. For a transitive dependency, upgrade the parent package or add an override or constraint, then regenerate the lockfile. Redeploy every environment that ran an affected version.

## Required regression checks
- Run the test suite and a production build.
- Exercise the features that depend on github.com/goharbor/harbor.
- Repeat the inspection and confirm that only fixed versions remain installed.

## Rollback considerations
- Keep the previous lockfile and deployment artifact. Rolling back reinstates the vulnerable version, so apply any documented mitigation while you fix forward.

## Unresolved questions
- Which deployments run an affected version?
- Exploitation status can change. Check again before lowering the priority.
- Mark the work resolved only after the fixed version is verified in production.

## Sources
- Verified: https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-mq6f-5xh5-hgcf (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-mq6f-5xh5-hgcf lists affected ranges: Go github.com/goharbor/harbor >=0 =2.0.0 =2.8.0 <2.8.3)

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