GHSA-hw28-333w-qxp3 — harbor
MEDIUMGHSA-hw28-333w-qxp3 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.5) Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in github.com/goharbor/harbor. A fix is available for github.com/goharbor/harbor — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Harbor fails to validate the user permissions when updating project configurations
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-hw28-333w-qxp3.
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-hw28-333w-qxp3 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 377,333 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/goharbor/harbor🐹github.com/goharbor/harborReal-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
Impact
Harbor fails to validate the maintainer role permissions when creating/updating/deleting project configurations - API call:
- PUT /projects/{project_name_or_id}/metadatas/{meta_name}
- POST /projects/{project_name_or_id}/metadatas/{meta_name}
- DELETE /projects/{project_name_or_id}/metadatas/{meta_name}
By sending a request to create/update/delete a metadata with an name that belongs to a project that the currently authenticated and granted to the maintainer role user doesn’t have access to, the attacker could modify configurations in the current project.
BTW: the maintainer role in Harbor was intended for individuals who closely support the project admin in maintaining the project but lack configuration management permissions. However, the maintainer role can utilize the metadata API to circumvent this limitation. It's important to note that any potential attacker must be authenticated and granted a specific project maintainer role to modify configurations, limiting their scope to only that project.
Patches
Will be fixed in v2.9.5, v2.10.3 and v2.11.0
Workarounds
There are no workarounds available.
Credit
Thanks to Ravid Mazon([email protected]), Jay Chen ([email protected]) Palo Alto Networks for reporting this issue.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐹Go | github.com/goharbor/harbor | all versions | 2.9.5go get github.com/goharbor/harbor@v2.9.5 |
| 🐹Go | github.com/goharbor/harbor | ≥ 2.10.0&&< 2.10.3 | 2.10.3go get github.com/goharbor/harbor@v2.10.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for github.com/goharbor/harbor, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update github.com/goharbor/harbor to 2.9.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-hw28-333w-qxp3 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-hw28-333w-qxp3 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-hw28-333w-qxp3. 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-hw28-333w-qxp3 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-hw28-333w-qxp3 across Go dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.