CVE-2024-6329 is a vulnerability discovered in the GitLab CE (Community Edition) and EE (Enterprise Edition) software that affects a broad range of versions, starting from 8.16 prior to 17..6, 17.1 prior to 17.1.4, and 17.2 prior to 17.2.2. Under certain conditions, this issue causes the web interface to fail to render the diff correctly when the path is encoded. In this long read post, we will delve deeper into this vulnerability, discuss the exploit details, and provide references for further reading.

Vulnerability

The CVE-2024-6329 vulnerability primarily affects the way GitLab handles the rendering of the diff in the web interface when the file path is encoded. When exploited, this could lead to incorrect display and manipulation of diff contents, posing a security risk to GitLab users and organizations that rely on it for source code management and tracking changes in their code.

Exploit Details

The root cause of this vulnerability is the improper handling of encoded file paths while rendering the diff in GitLab's web interface. A possible exploit scenario is that an attacker can potentially create a file path with encoded characters, which GitLab will not handle correctly during the computation and rendering of the diff. This can ultimately allow the attacker to manipulate the contents of the diff, bypassing security measures, and potentially compromising the integrity of the codebase.

Here's a simple code snippet illustrating this vulnerability

// Original file path
var filePath = "/path/to/some/file.ext/";

// Encoded file path
var encodedFilePath = "/%70%61%74%68/%74%6F/%73%6F%6D%65/%66%69%6C%65.%65%78%74/";

GitLab's web interface will fail to identify both paths as the same and consequently, fail to render the diff correctly.

Fix and Mitigation

GitLab has provided updates for affected versions to address this vulnerability. Users are advised to update to the fixed versions (17..6, 17.1.4, or 17.2.2) as soon as possible. Additionally, GitLab administrators and users can ensure all encoded paths are decoded correctly before rendering the diff, as a potential way to mitigate the risk posed by this vulnerability.

To decode the path, convert all encoded characters to their original form

function decodePath(encodedPath) {
    return decodeURIComponent(encodedPath);
}

Original References and Further Reading

To educate yourself more on this vulnerability and stay updated, we recommend you look into these references:

GitLab's original blog post discussing CVE-2024-6329: [Link to GitLab's blog post]

2. Official CVE Detail page: https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2024-6329
3. NIST National Vulnerability Database (NVD): https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-6329

Conclusion

CVE-2024-6329 is a serious vulnerability in GitLab CE/EE that has the potential to compromise the integrity of a codebase if exploited. GitLab users and administrators are encouraged to upgrade to fixed versions of the software as soon as possible and be diligent in handling encoded paths when rendering diffs. As always, staying informed and vigilant is crucial in ensuring the security of your systems.

Timeline

Published on: 08/08/2024 10:15:09 UTC
Last modified on: 08/08/2024 13:04:18 UTC