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GitLabApplication

CVE-2021-22259

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-10-04
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.1.7 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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
A potential DOS vulnerability was discovered in GitLab EE starting with version 12.6 due to lack of pagination in dependencies API.

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

GitLab EE versions 12.6 and later contain a denial-of-service vulnerability in the dependencies API endpoint. The lack of pagination controls allows authenticated users to make unbounded requests for dependency data, potentially exhausting server resources or causing performance degradation.

MitigationImplement pagination limits on the dependencies API endpoint and upgrade to a patched GitLab version. Rate-limit API requests as an additional defense-in-depth measure.

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:>= 12.6.0, < 14.1.7

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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. Confirm GitLab edition is Enterprise Edition (EE)
    Check the GitLab instance edition. On the GitLab admin area, go to /admin or run `grep -i 'gitlab-ee' /opt/gitlab/version-manifest.txt` (path may vary by install method). Alternatively, check the UI footer which displays 'GitLab Enterprise Edition' or 'GitLab Community Edition'.
    Affected if The instance is GitLab Enterprise Edition (EE). This vulnerability only affects EE, not CE.
  2. Check installed GitLab version
    Locate the GitLab version. In the UI, go to Help > Version or check the admin dashboard. On the server, run `gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or inspect the version file in the GitLab installation directory.
    Affected if The installed version is 12.6.0 or later but earlier than 14.1.7.
  3. Verify dependencies API endpoint is accessible
    As an authenticated user (or via API token), attempt to access the dependencies API endpoint at `/api/v4/projects/:id/dependencies` or `/api/v4/dependencies` using a tool like curl: `curl -H "PRIVATE-TOKEN: <token>" https://your-gitlab/api/v4/projects/1/dependencies`
    Affected if The endpoint responds successfully and returns dependency data without pagination controls (no `per_page` or `pagination` parameters enforced).

The environment is affected if running GitLab EE version 12.6.0 through 14.1.6 with the dependencies API endpoint accessible to authenticated users without pagination restrictions.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 14.1.7 or later
Fixed in 14.1.7
Interim mitigation

Implement pagination limits on the dependencies API endpoint and upgrade to a patched GitLab version. Rate-limit API requests as an additional defense-in-depth measure.

Recommended fix High confidence

14.1.7 or later (latest 14.x stable)

  1. Back up your GitLab instance database and repositories before upgrading
  2. Review GitLab upgrade prerequisites and ensure system meets requirements
  3. Upgrade GitLab to version 14.1.7 or later (recommended: latest 14.x stable release)
  4. After upgrade, verify the dependencies API endpoint now includes proper pagination
  5. Confirm GitLab services restarted successfully
Caveat Review GitLab 14.x release notes for any breaking changes between your current version and 14.x; consider testing upgrade in staging first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in GitLab Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,090
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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-2021-22259 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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