ZITADEL Account Takeover via Malicious Host Header Injection

Exploitation

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

CVSS

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

EPSS

• CVE-2023-49097: 0.77% estimated exploitation activity in the next 30 days; percentile 55.56 (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.

Impact ZITADEL uses the notification triggering requests Forwarded or X-Forwarded-Host header to build the button link sent in emails for confirming a password reset with the emailed code. If this header is overwritten and a user clicks the link to a malicious site in the email, the secret code can be retrieved and used to reset the users password and take over his account. Accounts with MFA or Passwordless enabled can not be taken over by this attack. Patches The patched ZITADEL versions verify, that the auth requests instance is retrieved by the requests original domain (from the Forwarded or X-Forwarded-Host headers if available). If the instance can't be found using the original host or the auth request can't be found within that instance, ZITADEL throws an error. 2.x versions are fixed on = 2.41.6 2.40.x versions are fixed on = 2.40.10 2.39.x versions are fixed on = 2.39.9 The vulnerablility was introduced with 2.39.0. Workarounds A ZITADEL fronting proxy can be configured to…

Published by the source

29 Nov 2023, 21:32 UTC

Last modified by the source

30 Nov 2023, 15:03 UTC

Source last checked

26 Oct 2026, 15:00 UTC

1. Revision 1 · created · 26 Oct 2026

   Published from ghsa record GHSA-2wmj-46rj-qm2w

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# Patch Next advisory brief: CVE-2023-49097

Advisory: ZITADEL Account Takeover via Malicious Host Header Injection
IDs: CVE-2023-49097, GHSA-2wmj-46rj-qm2w
Record: https://patchnext.com/advisories/cve-2023-49097 (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: High (CVSS 8.1)
Exploitation: no confirmed exploitation recorded. Patch Next confirms exploitation only from CISA KEV.
Vendor response: Vendor fix available; fixed versions by package: github.com/zitadel/zitadel 2.41.6, 2.40.10, 2.39.9. A vendor fix does not mean a deployment is fixed.

## Affected components
- Go github.com/zitadel/zitadel: affected >= 2.39.0, < 2.39.9; >= 2.40.0, < 2.40.10; >= 2.41.0, < 2.41.6; fixed in 2.40.10, 2.41.6, 2.39.9

## Suggested inspection (read-only)
- Go github.com/zitadel/zitadel: 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/zitadel/zitadel.
- 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-2wmj-46rj-qm2w (GitHub-reviewed advisory GHSA-2wmj-46rj-qm2w lists affected ranges: Go github.com/zitadel/zitadel >=2.39.0 =2.40.0 =2.41.0 <2.41.6)

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