Overview
In the rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape, new threats are continually emerging. One such recent vulnerability, designated as CVE-2025-1763, poses a significant threat to the security of GitLab EE (Enterprise Edition) users. This vulnerability allows for a cross-site-scripting (XSS) attack and content security policy bypass in a user’s browser under specific conditions. Given the widespread use of GitLab EE among organizations, this vulnerability has far-reaching implications and could potentially lead to significant damage if exploited by malicious actors.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-1763
Severity: High (CVSS: 8.7)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
GitLab EE | 16.6 before 17.9.7
GitLab EE | 17.10 before 17.10.5
GitLab EE | 17.11 before 17.11.1
How the Exploit Works
The CVE-2025-1763 vulnerability allows an attacker to inject malicious scripts into a webpage which can be executed in the user’s browser. This happens by bypassing the Content Security Policy (CSP), a critical security feature designed to prevent XSS attacks. The attacker then uses these scripts to manipulate the DOM environment in the user’s browser, potentially leading to unauthorized access, data theft, or other malicious actions.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This example uses a malicious payload in an HTTP request to the vulnerable endpoint:
POST /vulnerable/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "malicious_payload": "<script>/* Bad JavaScript goes here */</script>" }In this example, the “malicious_payload” contains a script that could be executed in the user’s browser if the server does not correctly sanitize the input or enforce a robust Content Security Policy.
Mitigation
To mitigate the CVE-2025-1763 vulnerability, it is recommended to apply the vendor patch released by GitLab. The patches for the affected versions can be found on the GitLab website. In the event that applying the patch is not immediately feasible, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation measure, helping to detect and prevent potential exploitation of this vulnerability.