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GitLabApplication

CVE-2019-12441

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-03-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 11.11.0 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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 8.4 through 11.11. The protected branches feature contained a access control issue which resulted in a bypass of the protected branches restriction rules. It has Incorrect Access Control.

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 8.4 through 11.11 contains an Incorrect Access Control vulnerability in the protected branches feature, allowing authenticated users to bypass restriction rules meant to protect branches from unauthorized modifications such as force pushes, deletion, or merges.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab to a version beyond 11.11 where the access control logic for protected branches has been corrected.

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:>= 8.4.0, <= 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
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

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

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 'gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info' or check the GitLab admin dashboard under /admin/about to retrieve the exact version number
    Affected if The installed version falls within 8.4.0 to 11.11.0 inclusive
  2. Confirm protected branches feature is in use
    Navigate to the repository settings and inspect the protected branches list at /project/-/settings/repository#protected-branches, or use the API endpoint GET /projects/:id/protected_branches
    Affected if Any branches are configured as protected (have merge, push, or force push restrictions applied)
  3. Review branch protection rules
    Examine the protection rules configured for each protected branch to confirm enforcement of restrictions such as allowed to merge, allowed to push, or force push settings
    Affected if Protected branch restrictions are configured and the GitLab version is in the affected range, indicating the access control bypass may apply

You are affected if your GitLab version is between 8.4.0 and 11.11.0 and you have protected branches configured with merge, push, or force push restrictions.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 11.11.0
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab to a version beyond 11.11 where the access control logic for protected branches has been corrected.

Fix this in GitLab Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,860
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2019-12441 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