GitLabApplication
CVE-2021-22188
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 has been discovered in GitLab affecting all versions starting with 13.0. Confidential issue titles in Gitlab were readable by an unauthorised user via branch logs.
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 confidenceGitLab versions 13.0 and later contained an information disclosure vulnerability where confidential issue titles were exposed through branch logs to unauthorized users. The access control logic for issue titles did not properly enforce confidentiality when displaying information via the branch logs feature, allowing any user with repository access to view sensitive issue titles they should not have access to.
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
>= 13.0.0, < 13.6.7>= 13.7.0, < 13.7.7>= 13.8.0, < 13.8.4CVSS 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
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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.
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Identify installed GitLab versionRun `gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or check the GitLab admin panel under Help > Version to determine the exact version numberAffected if Version is 13.0.0 to 13.6.6, 13.7.0 to 13.7.6, or 13.8.0 to 13.8.3 (or any 13.x version below 13.6.7 that is not listed but falls between 13.0.0 and those ranges)
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Verify branch logs feature is accessibleNavigate to any repository in the GitLab instance, click on a branch, and locate the branch logs or commit history view accessible to users with repository read accessAffected if Branch logs are visible to users with basic repository access without additional permission restrictions
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Confirm existence of confidential issuesCheck project issue boards or issue lists for any issues marked as confidential, which would be restricted under normal access controlsAffected if The repository contains confidential issues that should only be visible to authorized members
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Test cross-user issue title exposureAs a low-privilege user (or user without access to confidential issues), navigate to branch logs and examine any commit or merge request references that include issue titles; attempt to view titles of issues marked confidentialAffected if A user without confidential issue access can view those issue titles through branch logs or related commit metadata
A user is affected if running a vulnerable GitLab 13.x version where branch logs expose confidential issue titles to unauthorized users with basic repository access.
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 data13.6.713.7.713.8.4
Update GitLab to the patched version (14.x or later per vendor advisories). If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict user access to repositories and review branch log visibility settings to limit exposure of sensitive metadata.
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-2021-22188 — 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-2021-22188 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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