GitLabApplication
CVE-2020-11649
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 · uneditedAn issue was discovered in GitLab CE and EE 8.15 through 12.9.2. Members of a group could still have access after the group is deleted.
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 confidenceA broken access control vulnerability in GitLab CE and EE versions 8.15 through 12.9.2 allows group members to retain access to resources after their parent group is deleted. The group deletion process fails to properly revoke member permissions, leaving stale authorizations in place.
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
>= 8.15.0, < 12.7.9>= 12.8.0, < 12.8.9>= 12.9.0, < 12.9.3CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Check GitLab versionRun `gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or check the GitLab admin area under Help > Version to determine the installed version.Affected if The installed version falls within 8.15.0 to 12.7.8, 12.8.0 to 12.8.8, or 12.9.0 to 12.9.2.
-
Identify deleted groups with membersQuery the GitLab database: `SELECT id, name, type, state FROM namespaces WHERE state = 'deleted' AND type = 'Group';` Then cross-reference with `SELECT user_id, group_id, access_level FROM group_members WHERE group_id IN (SELECT id FROM namespaces WHERE state = 'deleted' AND type = 'Group');`Affected if Any records exist in group_members table referencing deleted group IDs, indicating stale permissions remain.
-
Check for members of deleted groups accessing resourcesReview GitLab audit logs for events from users whose group membership should have been revoked. Look for access events to projects or subgroups where the parent group no longer exists in the active namespace list.Affected if Users appear in audit logs accessing resources belonging to groups that show as deleted in the namespace table.
-
Verify parent group relationship on accessible resourcesRun `SELECT projects.id, projects.name, namespaces.id, namespaces.name, namespaces.state FROM projects JOIN namespaces ON projects.namespace_id = namespaces.id WHERE namespaces.parent_id IN (SELECT id FROM namespaces WHERE state = 'deleted');`Affected if Any projects are owned by namespaces whose parent group is marked as deleted but the project namespace itself is active.
A user is affected if running a vulnerable GitLab version AND stale group memberships exist in the database for deleted parent groups.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 data12.7.912.8.912.9.3
Upgrade GitLab to version 12.9.3 or later, and conduct an access review to identify and manually revoke any lingering member permissions from deleted groups.
Fix this in GitLab
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,120.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-11649 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2020-11649 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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