CVE-2024-28197
Account Takeover via Session Fixation in Zitadel [Bypassing MFA]
Zitadel is an open source identity management system. Zitadel uses a cookie to identify the user agent (browser) and its user sessions. Although the cookie was handled according to best practices, it was accessible on subdomains of the ZITADEL instance. An attacker could take advantage of this and provide a malicious link hosted on the subdomain to the user to gain access to the victim’s account in certain scenarios. A possible victim would need to login through the malicious link for this exploit to work. If the possible victim already had the cookie present, the attack would not succeed. The attack would further only be possible if there was an initial vulnerability on the subdomain. This could either be the attacker being able to control DNS or a XSS vulnerability in an application hosted on a subdomain. Versions 2.46.0, 2.45.1, and 2.44.3 have been patched. Zitadel recommends upgrading to the latest versions available in due course. Note that applying the patch will invalidate the current cookie and thus users will need to start a new session and existing sessions (user selection) will be empty. For self-hosted environments unable to upgrade to a patched version, prevent setting the following cookie name on subdomains of your Zitadel instance (e.g. within your WAF): __Secure-zitadel-useragent.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Adjacent network
- Complexity
- High
- 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
7.5
Account Takeover via Session Fixation in Zitadel [Bypassing MFA]
Zitadel is an open source identity management system. Zitadel uses a cookie to identify the user agent (browser) and its user sessions. Although the cookie was handled according to best practices, it was accessible on subdomains of the ZITADEL instance. An attacker could take advantage of this and provide a malicious link hosted on the subdomain to the user to gain access to the victim’s account in certain scenarios. A possible victim would need to login through the malicious link for this exploit to work. If the possible victim already had the cookie present, the attack would not succeed. The attack would further only be possible if there was an initial vulnerability on the subdomain. This could either be the attacker being able to control DNS or a XSS vulnerability in an application hosted on a subdomain. Versions 2.46.0, 2.45.1, and 2.44.3 have been patched. Zitadel recommends upgrading to the latest versions available in due course. Note that applying the patch will invalidate the current cookie and thus users will need to start a new session and existing sessions (user selection) will be empty. For self-hosted environments unable to upgrade to a patched version, prevent setting the following cookie name on subdomains of your Zitadel instance (e.g. within your WAF): __Secure-zitadel-useragent.
- Record
CVE-2024-28197- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-269
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2024-0967
7.5
Zitadel is an open source identity management system. Zitadel uses a cookie to identify the user agent (browser) and its user sessions. Although the cookie was handled according to best practices, it was accessible on subdomains of the ZITADEL instance. An attacker could take advantage of this and provide a malicious link hosted on the subdomain to the user to gain access to the victim’s account in certain scenarios. A possible victim would need to login through the malicious link for this exploit to work. If the possible victim already had the cookie present, the attack would not succeed. The attack would further only be possible if there was an initial vulnerability on the subdomain. This could either be the attacker being able to control DNS or a XSS vulnerability in an application hosted on a subdomain. Versions 2.46.0, 2.45.1, and 2.44.3 have been patched. Zitadel recommends upgrading to the latest versions available in due course. Note that applying the patch will invalidate the current cookie and thus users will need to start a new session and existing sessions (user selection) will be empty. For self-hosted environments unable to upgrade to a patched version, prevent setting the following cookie name on subdomains of your Zitadel instance (e.g. within your WAF): __Secure-zitadel-useragent.
- Record
EUVD-2024-0967- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-mq4x-r2w3-j7mr
7.1
Account Takeover via Session Fixation in Zitadel [Bypassing MFA]
Impact
ZITADEL uses a cookie to identify the user agent (browser) and its user sessions.
Although the cookie was handled according to best practices, it was accessible on subdomains of the ZITADEL instance. An attacker could take advantage of this and provide a malicious link hosted on the subdomain to the user to gain access to the victim’s account in certain scenarios. A possible victim would need to login through the malicious link for this exploit to work.
If the possible victim already had the cookie present, the attack would not succeed. The attack would further only be possible if there was an initial vulnerability on the subdomain. This could either be the attacker being able to control DNS or a XSS vulnerability in an application hosted on a subdomain.
Patches
2.x versions are fixed on >= 2.46.0 2.45.x versions are fixed on >= 2.45.1 2.44.x versions are fixed on >= 2.44.3
ZITADEL recommends upgrading to the latest versions available in due course.
Note that applying the patch will invalidate the current cookie and thus users will need to start a new session and existing sessions (user selection) will be empty.
Workarounds
For self-hosted environments unable to upgrade to a patched version, prevent setting the following cookie name on subdomains of your ZITADEL instance (e.g. within your WAF): __Secure-zitadel-useragent
References
None
Questions
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at [email protected]
Credits
Thanks to Amit Laish – GE Vernova for finding and reporting the vulnerability.
- Record
GHSA-mq4x-r2w3-j7mr- CVSS 4.0
- 7.1 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-269, CWE-384
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
7.5
Zitadel is an open source identity management system. Zitadel uses a cookie to identify the user agent (browser) and its user sessions. Although the cookie was handled according to best practices, it was accessible on subdomains of the ZITADEL instance. An attacker could take advantage of this and provide a malicious link hosted on the subdomain to the user to gain access to the victim’s account in certain scenarios. A possible victim would need to login through the malicious link for this exploit to work. If the possible victim already had the cookie present, the attack would not succeed. The attack would further only be possible if there was an initial vulnerability on the subdomain. This could either be the attacker being able to control DNS or a XSS vulnerability in an application hosted on a subdomain. Versions 2.46.0, 2.45.1, and 2.44.3 have been patched. Zitadel recommends upgrading to the latest versions available in due course. Note that applying the patch will invalidate the current cookie and thus users will need to start a new session and existing sessions (user selection) will be empty. For self-hosted environments unable to upgrade to a patched version, prevent setting the following cookie name on subdomains of your Zitadel instance (e.g. within your WAF): __Secure-zitadel-useragent.
- Record
CVE-2024-28197- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-269, CWE-384
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
7.5
Account Takeover via Session Fixation in Zitadel [Bypassing MFA]
Zitadel is an open source identity management system. Zitadel uses a cookie to identify the user agent (browser) and its user sessions. Although the cookie was handled according to best practices, it was accessible on subdomains of the ZITADEL instance. An attacker could take advantage of this and provide a malicious link hosted on the subdomain to the user to gain access to the victim’s account in certain scenarios. A possible victim would need to login through the malicious link for this exploit to work. If the possible victim already had the cookie present, the attack would not succeed. The attack would further only be possible if there was an initial vulnerability on the subdomain. This could either be the attacker being able to control DNS or a XSS vulnerability in an application hosted on a subdomain. Versions 2.46.0, 2.45.1, and 2.44.3 have been patched. Zitadel recommends upgrading to the latest versions available in due course. Note that applying the patch will invalidate the current cookie and thus users will need to start a new session and existing sessions (user selection) will be empty. For self-hosted environments unable to upgrade to a patched version, prevent setting the following cookie name on subdomains of your Zitadel instance (e.g. within your WAF): __Secure-zitadel-useragent.
- Record
CVE-2024-28197- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-269
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-mq4x-r2w3-j7mr
7.1
Account Takeover via Session Fixation in Zitadel [Bypassing MFA]
Impact
ZITADEL uses a cookie to identify the user agent (browser) and its user sessions.
Although the cookie was handled according to best practices, it was accessible on subdomains of the ZITADEL instance. An attacker could take advantage of this and provide a malicious link hosted on the subdomain to the user to gain access to the victim’s account in certain scenarios. A possible victim would need to login through the malicious link for this exploit to work.
If the possible victim already had the cookie present, the attack would not succeed. The attack would further only be possible if there was an initial vulnerability on the subdomain. This could either be the attacker being able to control DNS or a XSS vulnerability in an application hosted on a subdomain.
Patches
2.x versions are fixed on >= 2.46.0 2.45.x versions are fixed on >= 2.45.1 2.44.x versions are fixed on >= 2.44.3
ZITADEL recommends upgrading to the latest versions available in due course.
Note that applying the patch will invalidate the current cookie and thus users will need to start a new session and existing sessions (user selection) will be empty.
Workarounds
For self-hosted environments unable to upgrade to a patched version, prevent setting the following cookie name on subdomains of your ZITADEL instance (e.g. within your WAF): __Secure-zitadel-useragent
References
None
Questions
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at [email protected]
Credits
Thanks to Amit Laish – GE Vernova for finding and reporting the vulnerability.
- Record
GHSA-mq4x-r2w3-j7mr- CVSS 4.0
- 7.1 High
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:H/AT:N/PR:N/UI:P/VC:N/VI:H/VA:N/SC:H/SI:H/SA:N - CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-269, CWE-384
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGO-2024-2637 No score
Account Takeover via Session Fixation in Zitadel [Bypassing MFA] in github.com/zitadel/zitadel
Account Takeover via Session Fixation in Zitadel [Bypassing MFA] in github.com/zitadel/zitadel.
NOTE: The source advisory for this report contains additional versions that could not be automatically mapped to standard Go module versions.
(If this is causing false-positive reports from vulnerability scanners, please suggest an edit to the report.)
The additional affected modules and versions are: github.com/zitadel/zitadel before v2.44.3, from v2.45.0 before v2.45.1.
- Record
GO-2024-2637- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
github.com/zitadel/zitadelGo |
before 2.44.3 | 2.44.3 |
github.com/zitadel/zitadelGo |
2.45.0 up to 2.45.1 | 2.45.1 |
github.com/zitadel/zitadelGo |
All versions | None known |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2024-28197 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) in Zitadel, published March 11, 2024. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.34%, the 27th percentile. Fixed in github.com/zitadel/zitadel 2.44.3.
References
github.com/zitadel/zitadel/security/advisories/GHSA-mq4x-r2w3-j7mr
github.com/zitadel/zitadel/commit/d4c553b75a214e41299af010ef4b26174a0f802c
github.com/zitadel/zitadel/commit/e82cb51eb819c6cdba8123c9c34c5739b46b29eb
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-28197
github.com/advisories/GHSA-mq4x-r2w3-j7mr
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2024/28xxx/CVE-2024-28197.json
github.com/zitadel/zitadel