GHSA-f4cf-9rvr-2rcx is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.3) CWE-497 vulnerability in github.com/zitadel/zitadel. A fix is available for github.com/zitadel/zitadel — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Zitadel Discloses the Total Number of Instance Users
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-f4cf-9rvr-2rcx.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-f4cf-9rvr-2rcx plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
github.com/zitadel/zitadel🐹github.com/zitadel/zitadel🐹github.com/zitadel/zitadelReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Go packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Summary
Zitadel's User Service discloses the total number of instance users to unauthorized users.
Impact
The ZITADEL User Service exposes the total number of users within an instance to any authenticated user, regardless of their specific permissions. While this does not leak individual user data or PII, disclosing the total user count via the totalResult field constitutes an information disclosure vulnerability that may be sensitive in certain contexts.
Affected Versions
Systems running one of the following version are affected:
- 4.x:
4.0.0-rc.1through4.7.1 - 3.x:
3.0.0-rc.1through3.4.4 - 2.x:
2.44.0through2.71.19
Patches
The vulnerability has been addressed in the latest release. The patch resolves the issue and returns the totalResult value corresponding to the number of instance users for whom the querying user has read permission.
- 4.x: Upgrade to >= 4.7.2
- 3.x: Update to >= 3.4.5
- 2.x: Update to >= 3.4.5 (or checkout the workarounds section)
Workarounds
The recommended solution is to update Zitadel to a patched version.
If a version upgrade is not possible, you can enable the permissionCheckV2 feature on your instance.
Questions
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory, please email us at [email protected]
Credits
This vulnerability was found by zentrust partners GmbH during a scheduled penetration test. Thank you to the analysts Martin Tschirsich, Joud Zakharia, Christopher Baumann. The full report will be made public after the complete review.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/zitadel/zitadel | ≥ 4.0.0-rc.1&&< 4.7.2 | 4.7.2go get github.com/zitadel/zitadel@v4.7.2 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/zitadel/zitadel | ≥ 2.44.0&&< 3.4.5 | 3.4.5go get github.com/zitadel/zitadel@v3.4.5 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/zitadel/zitadel | all versions | 1.80.0-v2.20.0.20251210121356-826039c6208fgo get github.com/zitadel/zitadel@v1.80.0-v2.20.0.20251210121356-826039c6208f |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/zitadel/zitadel, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/zitadel/zitadel to 4.7.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-f4cf-9rvr-2rcx is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-f4cf-9rvr-2rcx can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-f4cf-9rvr-2rcx. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-f4cf-9rvr-2rcx in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-f4cf-9rvr-2rcx across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.