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GitLabApplication

CVE-2019-12428

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 11.11.0 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An issue was discovered in GitLab Community and Enterprise Edition 6.8 through 11.11. Users could bypass the mandatory external authentication provider sign-in restrictions by sending a specially crafted request. It has Improper Authorization.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

GitLab Community and Enterprise Edition versions 6.8 through 11.11 contained an improper authorization vulnerability where users could bypass mandatory external authentication provider sign-in restrictions by sending specially crafted requests. This allowed attackers to potentially access the GitLab instance without proper authentication through the configured external identity provider.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab to version 11.12 or later to patch this authorization bypass. Review authentication logs for unauthorized access attempts during the vulnerable period.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
GitLabApplication
Affected:>= 6.8.0, <= 11.11.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed GitLab version
    Run `sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or check the GitLab admin panel under /admin/about to see the exact version number
    Affected if The installed version falls within >= 6.8.0 and <= 11.11.0
  2. Verify external authentication provider configuration
    Check GitLab admin settings at /admin/application_settings/general under 'Authentication' section, or inspect /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb for LDAP, SAML, OAuth, or similar provider settings
    Affected if An external identity provider (LDAP, SAML, OAuth, etc.) is configured and enforced as mandatory
  3. Confirm mandatory external authentication is enabled
    Review the external authentication provider settings to determine if the 'mandatory' or 'required' sign-in restriction is configured, preventing local GitLab authentication
    Affected if External authentication is set as mandatory, requiring all users to authenticate through the external provider only
  4. Check authentication logs for suspicious access patterns
    Review GitLab production logs (typically in /var/log/gitlab/gitlab-rails/production.log) for requests that may have bypassed the external authentication flow, looking for successful authentications without external provider tokens
    Affected if Unusual authentication patterns exist in logs, such as sessions created without corresponding external provider authentication events

You are affected if your GitLab version is between 6.8.0 and 11.11.0 AND you have a mandatory external authentication provider configured that could be bypassed.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 11.11.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab to version 11.12 or later to patch this authorization bypass. Review authentication logs for unauthorized access attempts during the vulnerable period.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

GitLab 11.12.0 or later (recommended: latest stable 11.x or 12.x release)

  1. Back up your GitLab instance data before starting the upgrade
  2. Ensure your system meets the requirements for the target GitLab version
  3. Follow the official GitLab upgrade documentation for your installation method (Omnibus, source, or Docker)
  4. Upgrade GitLab from 11.11.0 to version 11.12.0 or later
  5. After upgrade, verify that the external authentication provider sign-in restrictions are enforced correctly
  6. Test that users can no longer bypass mandatory external authentication
Caveat Review the GitLab 11.12 release notes for any breaking changes or required migrations between your current version and the target version

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in GitLab Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-12428 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data