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GitLabApplication

CVE-2025-12562

HIGH · 7.5 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 →
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
GitLab has remediated an issue in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 11.10 before 18.4.6, 18.5 before 18.5.4, and 18.6 before 18.6.2 that could have allowed an unauthenticated user to create a denial of service condition by sending crafted GraphQL queries that bypass query complexity limits.

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

GitLab CE/EE contains a vulnerability where unauthenticated users can bypass GraphQL query complexity limits by sending specially crafted queries, potentially causing a denial of service condition. The vulnerability affects versions from 11.10 through 18.4.5, 18.5.x before 18.5.4, and 18.6.x before 18.6.2.

MitigationUpgrade GitLab to version 18.4.6, 18.5.4, or 18.6.2 or later to apply the vendor patch. Consider implementing additional GraphQL query rate limiting at the infrastructure level as a defense-in-depth measure.

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:>= 11.10.0, < 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
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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. Determine GitLab version
    Run 'sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info' or check the GitLab admin panel under 'Help > Version', or check the installed package version with 'dpkg -l | grep gitlab-ee' or 'rpm -qa | grep gitlab'
    Affected if The installed version is 11.10.x through 18.4.5, 18.5.0 through 18.5.3, or 18.6.0 through 18.6.1
  2. Confirm GraphQL endpoint is accessible
    Attempt to reach the /api/graphql endpoint without providing authentication credentials (e.g., curl -k https://YOUR_GITLAB_HOST/api/graphql)
    Affected if The GraphQL endpoint responds to unauthenticated requests, indicating the feature is exposed without authentication
  3. Verify complexity limiting behavior
    Send a simple GraphQL query to the endpoint (such as { __schema { types { name } } }) and observe whether it returns successfully without complexity analysis
    Affected if The query executes without triggering any complexity analysis or throttling, suggesting complexity limits may be bypassed

If the installed GitLab version falls within 11.10.0 to 18.4.5, 18.5.0 to 18.5.3, or 18.6.0 to 18.6.1 AND the GraphQL endpoint is accessible to unauthenticated users, the environment is affected by this 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 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 version 18.4.6, 18.5.4, or 18.6.2 or later to apply the vendor patch. Consider implementing additional GraphQL query rate limiting at the infrastructure level as a defense-in-depth measure.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to 18.4.6 (or later 18.4.x), 18.5.4 (or later 18.5.x), or 18.6.2 (or later 18.6.x) - preferably the latest stable patch in your current minor series

  1. Back up your GitLab instance (database, repositories, and configuration) before upgrading
  2. For RHEL/CentOS: Edit /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb and ensure the package repository points to the correct version, then run 'sudo yum install gitlab-ce' or 'sudo yum install gitlab-ee' to upgrade
  3. For Ubuntu/Debian: Run 'sudo apt-get update' then 'sudo apt-get install gitlab-ce' or 'sudo apt-get install gitlab-ee' to upgrade to the latest available in your configured repository
  4. Alternatively, use omicron: 'sudo gitlab-ctl stop', then download and install the appropriate package for your version from https://packages.gitlab.com/gitlab/gitlab-ce or gitlab-ee
  5. Run 'sudo gitlab-ctl reconfigure' after package installation completes
  6. Verify the upgrade by running 'sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:version' and confirming the version matches 18.4.6, 18.5.4, 18.6.2 or later
Caveat Standard GitLab patch upgrades typically have no breaking changes; always review the CHANGELOG for your version for any known issues

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-2025-12562 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