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GitLabApplication

CVE-2022-4138

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-02-13
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 15.6.7 / 15.7.6 or later.
See remediation →
88/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 Cross Site Request Forgery issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions before 15.6.7, all versions starting from 15.7 before 15.7.6, and all versions starting from 15.8 before 15.8.1. An attacker could take over a project if an Owner or Maintainer uploads a file to a malicious project.

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

A Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in GitLab CE/EE allows attackers to exploit file upload functionality. Attackers can trick authenticated Owner or Maintainer users into uploading files to malicious projects by leveraging the lack of proper CSRF token validation on file upload endpoints, potentially leading to complete project takeover.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab to version 15.6.7, 15.7.6, or 15.8.1 or later. These versions implement proper CSRF protection for file upload operations.

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:< 15.6.7>= 15.7, < 15.7.6>= 15.8, < 15.8.1

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Identify installed GitLab version
    Run `sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or check the GitLab admin area under /admin/application_settings or look at /opt/gitlab/version-manifest.txt
    Affected if The version displayed is less than 15.6.7, OR between 15.7.0 and 15.7.5 inclusive, OR exactly 15.8.0
  2. Confirm GitLab edition
    Check if the installation is Community Edition (CE) or Enterprise Edition (EE) using `sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or the admin dashboard
    Affected if Running GitLab CE or EE any version matching the affected ranges from step 1
  3. Verify file upload functionality is accessible
    Check if project file upload features are enabled in admin settings at /admin/application_settings under 'Repository' or 'Project features' settings. Alternatively, confirm at least one project exists where file uploads are permitted
    Affected if File upload functionality is enabled and projects exist where authenticated users can upload files
  4. Check for CSRF protection on upload endpoints
    Inspect HTTP requests when uploading files via the web interface. Verify that the request includes a CSRF token (typically in X-CSRF-Token header or csrf-token meta tag). For GitLab, this would involve checking if the file upload form/request properly validates the CSRF token
    Affected if The file upload requests do not include or validate a proper CSRF token - this would require code review or testing with a tool that can strip CSRF tokens to confirm the vulnerability exists

You are affected if your GitLab version falls within < 15.6.7, >= 15.7 to < 15.7.6, or = 15.8.0 AND file upload features are enabled and accessible to authenticated users.

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 15.6.7 / 15.7.6 / 15.8.1 or later
Fixed in 15.6.715.7.615.8.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab to version 15.6.7, 15.7.6, or 15.8.1 or later. These versions implement proper CSRF protection for file upload operations.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to GitLab 15.8.1 or later (15.9.x, 15.10.x, etc.)

  1. 1. Back up your GitLab instance database and repositories before starting the upgrade.
  2. 2. Ensure you have sufficient downtime window for the upgrade process.
  3. 3. For self-managed GitLab installations, follow the official upgrade path for your current version to reach at least 15.8.1.
  4. 4. If using GitLab SaaS (gitlab.com), no action required as the hosted service has already been patched.
  5. 5. After upgrade, verify that file upload functionality works correctly for Owners and Maintainers.
  6. 6. Review audit logs to ensure no unauthorized project takeovers occurred prior to patching.
Caveat Major version upgrades in GitLab may introduce breaking changes; review the release notes for any deprecations before upgrading

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

Fix this in GitLab Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
Get the upgrade done

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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-2022-4138 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