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GitLabApplication

CVE-2025-12029

HIGH · 8.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 18.4.6 / 18.5.4 or later.
See remediation →
87/100
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
GitLab has remediated an issue in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 15.11 before 18.4.6, 18.5 before 18.5.4, and 18.6 before 18.6.2 that could have, under certain circumstances, allowed an unauthenticated user to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of another user by injecting malicious external scripts into the Swagger UI."

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 stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in GitLab's Swagger UI that allows an unauthenticated attacker to inject malicious external scripts. When an authenticated user accesses the Swagger UI, these scripts execute in their session, enabling the attacker to perform unauthorized actions on behalf of that user (essentially a CSRF attack vector).

MitigationUpgrade GitLab to versions 18.4.6, 18.5.4, 18.6.2 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider disabling or restricting access to the Swagger UI until the upgrade can be completed.

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:>= 15.11.0, < 18.4.6>= 18.5.0, < 18.5.4>= 18.6.0, < 18.6.2

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
High
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/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. Determine installed GitLab version
    Log into the GitLab admin dashboard and navigate to the version information page, or run 'gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info' on the server to display version details
    Affected if The version falls within any of these ranges: 15.11.0 to 18.4.5, 18.5.0 to 18.5.3, or 18.6.0 to 18.6.1
  2. Verify Swagger UI is accessible
    Navigate to the API documentation endpoint (typically /api/v4/-/swagger or /help/api/swagger) while authenticated as a regular user
    Affected if The Swagger UI page loads successfully and displays the API documentation interface
  3. Confirm Swagger endpoint is reachable without authentication
    Attempt to access the Swagger UI URL in an unauthenticated browser session or use a command-line tool like curl to request the endpoint
    Affected if The endpoint returns a 200 response with Swagger UI content without requiring login credentials
  4. Check if API endpoints accept requests without CSRF tokens
    Review the GitLab configuration file (gitlab.rb or gitlab.yml) for API-related settings and examine whether the API enforces CSRF protection for state-changing requests
    Affected if The API is configured to allow requests from Swagger UI without requiring CSRF token validation

You are affected if your GitLab version is 15.11.0 through 18.4.5, 18.5.0 through 18.5.3, or 18.6.0 through 18.6.1 AND the Swagger UI is enabled and accessible to 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 18.4.6 / 18.5.4 / 18.6.2 or later
Fixed in 18.4.618.5.418.6.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade GitLab to versions 18.4.6, 18.5.4, 18.6.2 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, consider disabling or restricting access to the Swagger UI until the upgrade can be completed.

Recommended fix High confidence

18.4.6 (for 15.11-18.3.x) or 18.5.4 (for 18.5.x) or 18.6.2 (for 18.6.0-18.6.1)

  1. 1. Backup your GitLab instance before starting the upgrade process
  2. 2. Determine your current GitLab version from the GitLab administration panel or by running `gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info`
  3. 3. If running version 15.11.x through 18.3.x: upgrade to GitLab 18.4.6
  4. 4. If running version 18.5.x: upgrade to GitLab 18.5.4
  5. 5. If running version 18.6.0 or 18.6.1: upgrade to GitLab 18.6.2
  6. 6. After upgrade, verify Swagger UI is functioning correctly and the XSS vulnerability is resolved
  7. 7. Test that authenticated and unauthenticated interactions work as expected
Caveat Review GitLab release notes for each version in the upgrade path for any breaking changes or required manual 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
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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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-2025-12029 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