CVE-2025-1478
📋 TL;DR
A denial-of-service vulnerability in GitLab CE/EE allows attackers to crash the service by exploiting insufficient input validation in Board Names. All GitLab instances running affected versions are vulnerable, potentially disrupting development workflows and CI/CD pipelines.
💻 Affected Systems
- GitLab Community Edition
- GitLab Enterprise Edition
📦 What is this software?
Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →Gitlab by Gitlab
GitLab is a complete DevOps platform providing source code management, CI/CD pipelines, security scanning, container registry, and collaboration tools used by millions of developers and thousands of enterprises worldwide. As both a cloud-hosted SaaS offering (GitLab.com) and self-managed software, G...
Learn more about Gitlab →⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete service unavailability affecting all GitLab functionality including repositories, CI/CD, and issue tracking until service restart.
Likely Case
Temporary service disruption affecting board functionality and potentially other GitLab components until the malicious input is cleared.
If Mitigated
Minimal impact with proper input validation and rate limiting in place, possibly causing only localized board errors.
🎯 Exploit Status
The vulnerability requires minimal technical skill to exploit as it involves sending malformed input to board name fields.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 17.10.7, 17.11.3, or 18.0.1
Vendor Advisory: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/520354
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup your GitLab instance. 2. Update to patched version using your deployment method (Omnibus, Docker, source). 3. Restart GitLab services. 4. Verify the update with gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Input Validation Webhook
allImplement a webhook or middleware to validate board name inputs before reaching GitLab
Rate Limiting
linuxConfigure rate limiting on board creation/modification endpoints
gitlab-rake gitlab:rate_limits:check
Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb to add rate limiting rules
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement WAF rules to block malformed board name inputs
- Restrict board creation/modification permissions to trusted users only
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check GitLab version with: sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info | grep 'GitLab version'Check Version:
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info | grep 'GitLab version'Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 17.10.7+, 17.11.3+, or 18.0.1+ and test board creation with various inputs📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual board creation/modification patterns
- Service crash logs mentioning board validation
- High error rates on board endpoints
Network Indicators:
- Multiple rapid requests to board API endpoints
- Unusual payloads in board name fields
SIEM Query:
source="gitlab" AND ("board" AND ("crash" OR "error" OR "validation"))