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GitLabApplication

CVE-2025-10871

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-09-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 18.2.7 / 18.3.3 or later.
See remediation →
78/100
Remediation priority · High
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
An issue has been discovered in GitLab EE affecting all versions from 16.6 before 18.2.7, 18.3 before 18.3.3, and 18.4 before 18.4.1. Project Maintainers can exploit a vulnerability where they can assign custom roles to users with permissions exceeding their own, effectively granting themselves elevated privileges.

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 privilege escalation vulnerability in GitLab EE allows Project Maintainers to assign custom roles to users with permissions exceeding their own role level, effectively granting themselves elevated privileges beyond what their current role permits.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab to version 18.2.7, 18.3.3, or 18.4.1 or later. Review existing custom role assignments to detect any unauthorized privilege escalation that may have occurred prior to patching.

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:>= 16.6.0, < 18.2.7>= 18.3.0, < 18.3.3= 18.4.0

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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. Identify the installed GitLab version
    Run 'gitlab-rake gitlab:version' or check the GitLab admin panel under Help > Version to obtain the exact version number
    Affected if The installed version falls within the affected ranges: 16.6.0 to 18.2.6, 18.3.0 to 18.3.2, or 18.4.0 exactly
  2. Confirm GitLab edition is Enterprise Edition (EE)
    Verify through the admin panel footer or by running 'gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info' which displays the GitLab edition
    Affected if The instance is running GitLab EE (Community Edition is not affected by this vulnerability)
  3. Verify custom roles feature is in use
    Check the GitLab admin panel under Settings > Roles (or equivalent custom roles management interface) to see if any custom roles have been defined and are assignable
    Affected if Custom roles feature is enabled and custom roles exist in the system
  4. Review custom role assignments for privilege escalation
    Query the database or use admin API endpoints to list all custom role assignments, then compare each assigned role's permissions against the assigner's role level to identify any assignments where a Project Maintainer assigned a role with permissions exceeding their own level
    Affected if Any custom role assignments exist where the assignee received privileges higher than what a Project Maintainer should be able to grant

A user is affected if their GitLab EE installation version is within the affected ranges AND the custom roles feature is enabled and has been used for assignments that exceed the assigner's permission level.

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 18.2.7 / 18.3.3 or later
Fixed in 18.2.718.3.3
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab to version 18.2.7, 18.3.3, or 18.4.1 or later. Review existing custom role assignments to detect any unauthorized privilege escalation that may have occurred prior to patching.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to GitLab 18.2.7, 18.3.3, 18.4.1, or later (recommended: latest stable 18.x release)

  1. 1. Backup your GitLab instance and database before proceeding with the upgrade
  2. 2. Determine your current GitLab version by navigating to the GitLab admin area or running `gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info`
  3. 3. Plan your upgrade path based on your current version - if on 16.6.x through 18.1.x, upgrade to 18.2.7 first before going to later versions
  4. 4. For installations using the official GitLab packages (Omnibus), run: `sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install gitlab-ce` (or gitlab-ee for Enterprise Edition)
  5. 5. For installations using Docker, pull the fixed image: `docker pull gitlab/gitlab-ee:18.4.1` or later
  6. 6. For source installations, follow the upgrade guide at https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/update/
  7. 7. After upgrade, verify the installation: `sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:check`
  8. 8. Clear cache if needed: `sudo gitlab-rails cache:clear`
Caveat Review GitLab 18.x release notes for potential breaking changes, particularly around custom roles and permissions features; test upgrade in staging environment first

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
  • Testing5.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
17.0 hours of engineering $2,970
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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-2025-10871 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