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GitLabApplication

CVE-2020-13265

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-06-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.9.8 / 12.10.7 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
User email verification bypass in GitLab CE/EE 12.5 and later through 13.0.1 allows user to bypass email verification

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 · moderate confidence

This vulnerability allows users to bypass email verification in GitLab CE/EE versions 12.5 through 13.0.1. An attacker could potentially create accounts or gain unauthorized access without completing the required email verification process.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab to version 13.0.2 or later per the official GitLab security advisory. Review user accounts created during the affected timeframe for unverified or suspicious activity.

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:>= 12.5.0, < 12.9.8>= 12.10.0, < 12.10.7= 13.0.0

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
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/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. Determine installed GitLab version
    Run 'sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info' or check /opt/gitlab/version to find the currently installed GitLab version
    Affected if The installed version falls within >= 12.5.0, < 12.9.8 OR >= 12.10.0, < 12.10.7 OR equals 13.0.0
  2. Verify email verification is required
    In GitLab admin area, go to Settings > General > Sign-up restrictions and check if 'Send confirmation email' is enabled, or inspect /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb for 'gitlab_rails['gitlab_email_confirmation']' setting
    Affected if Email confirmation is set to 'true' or enabled in the configuration
  3. Review user accounts created during affected period
    In GitLab admin panel, navigate to Admin Area > Users and filter or sort by creation date between the version upgrade dates, or query the database: SELECT id, username, email, created_at FROM users WHERE created_at BETWEEN '2020-01-01' AND '2021-01-01';
    Affected if Unverified accounts exist that were created while running an affected version

You are affected if your GitLab version is 12.5.0 through 12.9.7, 12.10.0 through 12.10.6, or exactly 13.0.0 AND email verification settings are enabled.

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 12.9.8 / 12.10.7 or later
Fixed in 12.9.812.10.7
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab to version 13.0.2 or later per the official GitLab security advisory. Review user accounts created during the affected timeframe for unverified or suspicious activity.

Fix this in GitLab Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

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-2020-13265 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