CVE-2023-49097
ZITADEL vulnerable account takeover via malicious host header injection
ZITADEL is an identity infrastructure system. 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. This issue has been patched in versions 2.41.6, 2.40.10 and 2.39.9.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
ZITADEL vulnerable account takeover via malicious host header injection
ZITADEL is an identity infrastructure system. 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. This issue has been patched in versions 2.41.6, 2.40.10 and 2.39.9.
- Record
CVE-2023-49097- CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-640
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-2852
ZITADEL is an identity infrastructure system. 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. This issue has been patched in versions 2.41.6, 2.40.10 and 2.39.9.
- Record
EUVD-2023-2852- CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-2wmj-46rj-qm2w
ZITADEL Account Takeover via Malicious Host Header Injection
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 delete all Forwarded and X-Forwarded-Host header values before sending requests to ZITADEL self-hosted environments.
References
None
Questions
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at [email protected]
- Record
GHSA-2wmj-46rj-qm2w- CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-640
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
ZITADEL is an identity infrastructure system. 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. This issue has been patched in versions 2.41.6, 2.40.10 and 2.39.9.
- Record
CVE-2023-49097- CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N - CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-640
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
ZITADEL vulnerable account takeover via malicious host header injection
ZITADEL is an identity infrastructure system. 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. This issue has been patched in versions 2.41.6, 2.40.10 and 2.39.9.
- Record
CVE-2023-49097- CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-640
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-2wmj-46rj-qm2w
ZITADEL Account Takeover via Malicious Host Header Injection
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 delete all Forwarded and X-Forwarded-Host header values before sending requests to ZITADEL self-hosted environments.
References
None
Questions
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at [email protected]
- Record
GHSA-2wmj-46rj-qm2w- CVSS 3.1
- 8.1 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-640
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
github.com/zitadel/zitadelGo |
2.39.0 up to 2.39.9 | 2.39.9 |
github.com/zitadel/zitadelGo |
2.40.0 up to 2.40.10 | 2.40.10 |
github.com/zitadel/zitadelGo |
2.41.0 up to 2.41.6 | 2.41.6 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-49097 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 8.1) in Zitadel, published November 29, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.77%, the 55th percentile. Fixed in github.com/zitadel/zitadel 2.39.9.