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GitLabApplication

CVE-2020-7971

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2020-02-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 12.5.9 / 12.6.6 or later.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
GitLab EE 11.0 and later through 12.7.2 allows XSS.

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

Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in GitLab Enterprise Edition versions 11.0 through 12.7.2 allows attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users via unsanitized input fields.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab EE to version 12.8 or later which contains the patched version. Until then, restrict access to vulnerable GitLab instances and monitor for suspicious user 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:>= 11.0.0, < 12.5.9>= 12.6.0, < 12.6.6>= 12.7.0, <= 12.7.2

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
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/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. Check GitLab version via admin interface
    Log into GitLab as an administrator, navigate to Admin Area (wrench icon) > Overview > Dashboard, and locate the GitLab version number displayed on the page.
    Affected if The displayed version falls within these ranges: 11.0.0 to 12.5.8, 12.6.0 to 12.6.5, or 12.7.0 to 12.7.2.
  2. Check GitLab version via command line
    Run `sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` on the GitLab server and locate the GitLab version in the output.
    Affected if The version shown matches any of the affected ranges listed above.
  3. Check installed package version
    On the GitLab server, run `dpkg -l | grep gitlab-ee` (Debian/Ubuntu) or `rpm -qa | grep gitlab-ee` (RHEL/CentOS) to see the installed package version.
    Affected if The package version falls within the affected ranges.
  4. Verify GitLab edition is Enterprise Edition
    Confirm the installation is GitLab Enterprise Edition (EE), not Community Edition (CE), as this CVE specifically affects EE versions. Check via Admin Area > Dashboard or the `gitlab-ee` package name.
    Affected if The installation is GitLab Enterprise Edition and the version is within the affected ranges.

A user is affected if their GitLab Enterprise Edition installation version is 11.0.0-12.5.8, 12.6.0-12.6.5, or 12.7.0-12.7.2, as these versions contain the XSS vulnerability in unsanitized input fields.

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 12.5.9 / 12.6.6 or later
Fixed in 12.5.912.6.6
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab EE to version 12.8 or later which contains the patched version. Until then, restrict access to vulnerable GitLab instances and monitor for suspicious user activity.

Fix this in GitLab Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,656.

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-2020-7971 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