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GitLabApplication

CVE-2022-0741

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-04-01
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 14.6.5 / 14.7.4 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
Improper input validation in all versions of GitLab CE/EE using sendmail to send emails allowed an attacker to steal environment variables via specially crafted email addresses.

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 · high confidence

Improper input validation in GitLab CE/EE's sendmail email functionality allows attackers to inject specially crafted email addresses that can extract environment variables from the GitLab process, potentially exposing sensitive configuration data, API keys, and credentials.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab to the patched version addressing CVE-2022-0741; if immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider disabling sendmail-based email delivery or implementing additional input sanitization at the mail transfer agent level.

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:>= 10.0.0, < 14.6.5>= 14.7.0, < 14.7.4>= 14.8.0, < 14.8.2

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
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Determine installed GitLab version
    Run `sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or check `/opt/gitlab/embedded/gitlab-VERSION`
    Affected if Installed version falls within ranges: 10.0.0 to 14.6.4, 14.7.0 to 14.7.3, or 14.8.0 to 14.8.1
  2. Check email delivery method configuration
    Inspect `/etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb` for `gitlab_rails['smtp_enable'] = true` or review the email configuration in `/var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/etc/gitlab.yml`
    Affected if Sendmail or SMTP is configured as the email delivery method
  3. Verify sendmail feature is active
    Confirm that email notifications are enabled via `sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:git:fsck` or check that outgoing email is functional by reviewing `sudo gitlab-ctl tail gitlab-rails/production.log` for email activity
    Affected if Email functionality is actively used or enabled in the GitLab instance
  4. Inspect for environment variable exposure risk
    Review GitLab configuration files in `/etc/gitlab/` and `/var/opt/gitlab/gitlab-rails/` for sensitive environment variables that could be extracted via the sendmail injection
    Affected if Unmasked API tokens, secret keys, or credentials are present in GitLab environment variables or configuration

You are affected if your GitLab version is within any of the three vulnerable ranges AND sendmail/SMTP email delivery is enabled, because the injection only applies when the email functionality is active.

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 14.6.5 / 14.7.4 / 14.8.2 or later
Fixed in 14.6.514.7.414.8.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab to the patched version addressing CVE-2022-0741; if immediate upgrade is not feasible, consider disabling sendmail-based email delivery or implementing additional input sanitization at the mail transfer agent level.

Recommended fix High confidence

14.6.5, 14.7.4, 14.8.2, or later stable releases

  1. Back up your GitLab instance data and configuration
  2. Upgrade GitLab to version 14.6.5, 14.7.4, or 14.8.2 (or a later stable release)
  3. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the GitLab admin area
  4. Confirm that email sending functionality using sendmail works correctly after the upgrade
Caveat Review GitLab release notes for the target version for any known breaking changes specific to your current version

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

Fix this in GitLab Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

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-2022-0741 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