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GitLabApplication

CVE-2021-22166

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-01-15
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 13.7.2 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 attacker could cause a Prometheus denial of service in GitLab 13.7+ by sending an HTTP request with a malformed method

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 an attacker to cause a denial of service in GitLab's integrated Prometheus monitoring system by sending HTTP requests with malformed methods. The vulnerability affects GitLab version 13.7 and later, potentially causing the Prometheus endpoint to become unresponsive.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab to the vendor-patched version. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement network-level filtering or Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block malformed HTTP method requests to the Prometheus endpoint.

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:>= 13.7.0, < 13.7.2

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

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 installed GitLab version
    Run `gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or `gitlab --version` to display the currently installed GitLab version
    Affected if The version falls within the range >= 13.7.0 and < 13.7.2
  2. Verify Prometheus integration is enabled
    Check if the built-in Prometheus service is enabled by reviewing the GitLab configuration file at /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb for the line `prometheus['enable'] = true` or via the Admin Area > Monitoring > Prometheus page
    Affected if Prometheus monitoring is enabled in the GitLab instance
  3. Confirm Prometheus endpoint is accessible
    Attempt to access the Prometheus metrics endpoint at `https://your-gitlab-host/-/metrics` using a web browser or curl command
    Affected if The Prometheus metrics endpoint at /-/metrics is reachable from the network

You are affected if your GitLab version is 13.7.0 or 13.7.1 AND the integrated Prometheus monitoring is enabled and its metrics endpoint is accessible.

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 13.7.2 or later
Fixed in 13.7.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab to the vendor-patched version. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement network-level filtering or Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules to block malformed HTTP method requests to the Prometheus endpoint.

Fix this in GitLab Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,090
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,744.

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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-2021-22166 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