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GitLabApplication

CVE-2025-4097

MEDIUM · 6.5 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 →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
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 authenticated user to cause a denial of service condition by uploading specially crafted images.

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

An authenticated user could upload specially crafted images to GitLab CE/EE that trigger a denial of service condition. The vulnerability stems from insufficient validation or resource limits during image processing, likely causing excessive memory consumption or processing loop when the malicious image is processed by the server.

MitigationUpdate GitLab to version 18.4.6, 18.5.4, 18.6.2 or later. If immediate patching is not possible, consider restricting or validating image uploads from untrusted users as a temporary workaround.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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. Check installed GitLab version
    Run `sudo gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or look at the GitLab admin area > Version. Alternatively, check the package version with `dpkg -l | grep gitlab` or `rpm -q gitlab-ce` depending on your package manager.
    Affected if The installed version falls within one of these ranges: >= 11.10.0 and < 18.4.6, OR >= 18.5.0 and < 18.5.4, OR >= 18.6.0 and < 18.6.2
  2. Verify project file uploads are enabled
    Navigate to Project > Settings > General > Visibility, project features, permissions. Ensure Projects, issues, merge requests, and other features are not set to 'Private' only if you want to test. Check if the project allows upload of attachments via issues, merge requests, or the wiki.
    Affected if File or image uploads are enabled for at least some users (authenticated users can upload attachments to issues, merge requests, or as project files)
  3. Check for upload size limitations
    Review GitLab configuration in /etc/gitlab/gitlab.rb for `gitlab_rails['max_attachment_size']` or check the admin area under Settings > General > File uploads. Default is typically 10MB but may vary.
    Affected if No explicit file size limit is set, or the limit is set to an extremely large value that would not mitigate memory exhaustion from malformed images
  4. Identify if image processing features are active
    Check if the GitLab instance processes uploaded images for preview thumbnails, which triggers the vulnerable code path. This occurs automatically when viewing project repositories or attachments that render as images.
    Affected if Users can view uploaded images in the GitLab web interface (issues, merge requests, repository view) - this triggers the image processing code

You are affected if your GitLab version is in the vulnerable ranges listed AND authenticated users can upload image attachments that are processed for preview by the server.

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

Update GitLab to version 18.4.6, 18.5.4, 18.6.2 or later. If immediate patching is not possible, consider restricting or validating image uploads from untrusted users as a temporary workaround.

Recommended fix High confidence

18.4.6 (for 11.10+ to 18.4.x), 18.5.4 (for 18.5.x), or 18.6.2 (for 18.6.x)

  1. Identify the currently installed GitLab version using `gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info` or checking the GitLab admin panel
  2. Based on the current version, upgrade to the appropriate fixed release:
  3. - If running 11.10.0 to 18.4.x: upgrade to 18.4.6 or later
  4. - If running 18.5.0 to 18.5.x: upgrade to 18.5.4 or later
  5. - If running 18.6.0 to 18.6.x: upgrade to 18.6.2 or later
  6. Follow the standard GitLab upgrade procedure using gitlab-ctl repo-sync and gitlab-ctl upgrade, or use the official upgrade paths documented at docs.gitlab.com
  7. After upgrade, verify the new version is running with `gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info`
Caveat Standard GitLab upgrade caveats apply; review release notes for any migration requirements or breaking changes between versions

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
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

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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-2025-4097 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