GitLabApplication
CVE-2020-13291
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 · uneditedIn GitLab before 13.2.3, project sharing could temporarily allow too permissive access.
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 confidenceIn GitLab before 13.2.3, the project sharing feature contained a vulnerability where access permissions could temporarily be more permissive than intended during the sharing process, likely due to a race condition or timing issue in permission assignment.
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
>= 13.2.0, < 13.2.3CVSS 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
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Determine installed GitLab versionAccess the GitLab Admin area and navigate to the Admin Overview > Dashboard page, or run `gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` on the GitLab server to display version informationAffected if Version is 13.2.0, 13.2.1, or 13.2.2 (falls within >=13.2.0 and <13.2.3)
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Verify project sharing is enabledNavigate to Admin Area > Settings > Visibility and access controls > look for the 'Project sharing' option under 'Default branch protection' or check if 'Allow projects to invite members via email' is enabledAffected if Project sharing is enabled in the GitLab instance settings
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Review project membership audit eventsAccess the Admin Area > Monitoring > Audit Events and filter by event type 'member_added' or 'project_access_granted' to identify recent sharing operations that may have occurred during the vulnerable windowAffected if Any member additions to projects occurred while running a version in the affected range
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Check for unexpected project membersRun `gitlab-psql -c "SELECT projects.name, members.user_id, members.access_level, members.created_at FROM members JOIN projects ON members.source_id = projects.id WHERE members.created_at BETWEEN '2020-07-01' AND '2020-09-01' ORDER BY members.created_at;"` to query recent member additions during the vulnerable version periodAffected if Unexpected members or elevated access levels found in projects during July-August 2020
User is affected if GitLab version is 13.2.0, 13.2.1, or 13.2.2 AND the project sharing feature is enabled or was used during that time period
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 data13.2.3
Upgrade GitLab to version 13.2.3 or later to resolve the improper access control during project sharing.
Fix this in GitLab
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2020-13291 — 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-2020-13291 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
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- 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
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