CVE-2025-4700
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in GitLab allows attackers to inject malicious scripts that execute in users' browsers when viewing specially crafted content, leading to cross-site scripting (XSS). All GitLab CE/EE instances running affected versions are vulnerable. Attackers could steal session cookies, redirect users, or perform actions on their behalf.
💻 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
An attacker could steal administrator session cookies, gain full control of the GitLab instance, access source code, modify repositories, and pivot to internal systems.
Likely Case
Attackers steal user session cookies to access private repositories, modify code, or perform unauthorized actions under the victim's identity.
If Mitigated
With proper input validation and output encoding, the attack would fail to execute malicious scripts, limiting impact to failed exploitation attempts.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires specific circumstances and user interaction with malicious content.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 18.0.5, 18.1.3, or 18.2.1
Vendor Advisory: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/542915
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup your GitLab instance. 2. Update to GitLab 18.0.5, 18.1.3, or 18.2.1 using your package manager. 3. Restart GitLab services. 4. Verify the update was successful.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Content Security Policy (CSP)
allImplement a strict CSP to block inline scripts and restrict script sources.
Add CSP headers via web server configuration or GitLab settings
Input Sanitization
allEnable strict input validation and output encoding for user-generated content.
Configure GitLab to sanitize all user inputs and encode outputs
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Restrict access to GitLab instance using network ACLs or firewall rules
- Implement web application firewall (WAF) with XSS protection rules
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check GitLab version via Admin Area or command: sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:infoCheck Version:
sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info | grep 'GitLab version'Verify Fix Applied:
Confirm version is 18.0.5, 18.1.3, or 18.2.1 or higher📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual POST requests with script tags
- Multiple failed content rendering attempts
- Suspicious user agent strings
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing malicious script payloads
- Unexpected redirects to external domains
SIEM Query:
source="gitlab" AND (http_method="POST" AND uri_path="/*" AND (content="<script>" OR content="javascript:"))