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GitLabApplication

CVE-2022-4131

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-01-12
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 15.5.7 / 15.6.4 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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 issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 10.8 before 15.5.7, all versions starting from 15.6 before 15.6.4, all versions starting from 15.7 before 15.7.2. An attacker may cause Denial of Service on a GitLab instance by exploiting a regex issue in how the application parses user agents.

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

This is a ReDoS (Regular Expression Denial of Service) vulnerability in GitLab's user agent parsing logic. An attacker can send specially crafted user agent strings that cause the regex engine to consume excessive CPU resources, leading to denial of service.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab to version 15.5.7, 15.6.4, 15.7.2 or later. Consider implementing rate limiting or WAF rules as an interim mitigation to limit requests with abnormally long or complex user agent strings.

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:>= 10.8.0, < 15.5.7>= 15.6.0, < 15.6.4>= 15.7.0, < 15.7.2

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
Low

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

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
    Access GitLab admin panel and navigate to Help > Version, or run 'gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info' on the server, or check the /opt/gitlab/version file
    Affected if The displayed version falls within these ranges: 10.8.0 to 15.5.6, 15.6.0 to 15.6.3, or 15.7.0 to 15.7.1
  2. Verify GitLab is exposed to network requests
    Confirm that GitLab web interface is accessible via HTTP/HTTPS from network clients, or check that proxy_pass directives in nginx configuration point to GitLab
    Affected if GitLab accepts HTTP/HTTPS requests from users or automated tools, as the vulnerable user agent parsing runs on every incoming request
  3. Check if request logging is active
    Review GitLab logs (typically in /var/log/gitlab/nginx/) or the Rails production.log to confirm user agent strings are being parsed and logged
    Affected if User agent strings from requests are being processed by GitLab, which triggers the vulnerable regex matching code

If GitLab version is between 10.8.0 and 15.5.6, between 15.6.0 and 15.6.3, or between 15.7.0 and 15.7.1 AND the instance processes incoming HTTP requests, the environment is affected by this ReDoS vulnerability.

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 15.5.7 / 15.6.4 / 15.7.2 or later
Fixed in 15.5.715.6.415.7.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab to version 15.5.7, 15.6.4, 15.7.2 or later. Consider implementing rate limiting or WAF rules as an interim mitigation to limit requests with abnormally long or complex user agent strings.

Recommended fix High confidence

15.5.7, 15.6.4, or 15.7.2 (depending on your current version branch)

  1. Identify your current GitLab version by running `gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or checking the GitLab admin area
  2. Determine which upgrade path applies based on your current version: if 10.8.0 <= version < 15.5.7, target 15.5.7; if 15.6.0 <= version < 15.6.4, target 15.6.4; if 15.7.0 <= version < 15.7.2, target 15.7.2
  3. Back up your GitLab instance database and repositories using `gitlab-backup create`
  4. Stop GitLab services with `gitlab-ctl stop`
  5. Update GitLab using your installation method (omnibus package, source, or Docker)
  6. For Omnibus: download and install the appropriate package from GitLab's downloads page, then run `gitlab-ctl reconfigure`
  7. For Docker: pull the specific tagged image (e.g., `gitlab/gitlab-ce:15.7.2` or `gitlab/gitlab-ee:15.7.2`) and recreate the container
  8. Verify the upgrade completed successfully by checking `gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` shows the target version
Caveat Minor version upgrades within the same major release are generally safe; ensure you review GitLab's release notes for any required migration steps

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

Fix this in GitLab Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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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-2022-4131 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