CVE-2025-1212 - Critical Information Disclosure Vulnerability in GitLab CE/EE Requires Immediate Patching

Security researchers have identified a critical information disclosure vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-1212, in GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE). This vulnerability affects all versions of GitLab CE/EE from 8.3 prior to 17.6.5, 17.7 prior to 17.7.4, and 17.8 prior to 17.8.2. It allows an attacker to send a carefully crafted request to a vulnerable backend server to reveal sensitive information, such as private user data, source code, and configuration files.

Read on to learn more about the details of this vulnerability, how it can be exploited, and what actions you should take to protect your GitLab instances from potential attacks.

CVE-2025-1212 - Vulnerability Details

This vulnerability exists within GitLab due to insufficient validation of user input in processing backend server requests. An attacker with knowledge of the server-side API can craft a malicious request that can bypass authentication checks and retrieve sensitive information stored within GitLab.

Here's a code snippet that demonstrates how a vulnerable request could be crafted

import requests

gitlab_url = "https://vulnerable.gitlab.instance.example.com";
api_path = "/api/v4/endpoint"
malicious_payload = {
    "param1": "value1",
    "param2": "value2",
    "vulnerable_param": "../../sensitive/data/path"
}

response = requests.get(gitlab_url + api_path, params=malicious_payload)

When executed, the malicious request will retrieve sensitive data without proper authentication. Thankfully, this vulnerability has already been patched in newer versions of GitLab CE/EE. The links to the original security advisories and patch documentation can be found here:

- GitLab CE/EE versions 8.3 prior to 17.6.5: Link to Advisory
- GitLab CE/EE versions 17.7 prior to 17.7.4: Link to Advisory
- GitLab CE/EE versions 17.8 prior to 17.8.2: Link to Advisory

Exploitation and Impact

By exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker can gain unauthorized access to sensitive information stored within a vulnerable GitLab instance. This might include private user data, source code, and configuration files, potentially leading to further attacks or data breaches.

Protecting Your GitLab Instances

To protect your GitLab instances from this vulnerability, it is crucial to update your GitLab CE/EE installation to the latest patched version. We highly recommend updating to the latest version, as upgrading to a minimally patched version might still leave your system vulnerable to other security issues.

You can follow these steps to patch your GitLab CE/EE installation

1. Verify your current GitLab version by checking the version number in the footer of your GitLab instance or by visiting the /help page.
2. Refer to the GitLab Update Guide for detailed instructions on how to update your GitLab instance.
3. Make sure to check the changelog for any additional upgrade notes and instructions.
4. Validate that your GitLab instance is fully patched by confirming the version number in the footer or on the /help page.

Conclusion

CVE-2025-1212 is a critical information disclosure vulnerability that affects a broad range of GitLab CE/EE versions. Immediate action should be taken by GitLab administrators to patch their installations and prevent potential exploitation of this vulnerability. By following the steps outlined in this post, you can help ensure the security and integrity of your GitLab instances.

Timeline

Published on: 02/12/2025 15:15:18 UTC