{"id":53562,"date":"2025-06-19T06:40:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T06:40:20","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-12T00:48:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T06:48:16","slug":"cve-2025-4278-gitlab-ce-ee-html-injection-vulnerability-leading-to-account-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-4278-gitlab-ce-ee-html-injection-vulnerability-leading-to-account-takeover\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-4278: GitLab CE\/EE HTML Injection Vulnerability Leading to Account Takeover<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A crucial vulnerability, designated as CVE-2025-4278, has been detected in GitLab CE\/EE that affects all versions commencing with 18.0 and prior to 18.0.2. This vulnerability arises due to an HTML injection in the new search page under specific circumstances and could potentially lead to account takeover. As GitLab is a widely adopted platform for project planning, source code management, and CI\/CD, such a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5485-a-critical-vulnerability-pertaining-to-user-name-enumeration-in-web-management-interfaces\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"61596\">vulnerability poses a significant threat to millions of users<\/a> worldwide, affecting their data integrity and confidentiality.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-4278<br \/>\nSeverity: High (8.7 CVSS Score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: Account takeover <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-21475-critical-memory-corruption-vulnerability-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"59910\">leading to potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3973533209\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>GitLab CE | 18.0 to 18.0.1<br \/>\nGitLab EE | 18.0 to 18.0.1<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49013-code-injection-vulnerability-in-wilderforge-projects-due-to-unsafe-github-actions-usage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"60083\">vulnerability works by exploiting the HTML injection<\/a> flaw in GitLab&#8217;s new search page. An attacker can craft malicious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-7390-malicious-client-bypass-of-opc-https-server-certificate-trust-check\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"81885\">HTML<\/a> content and encode it in such a way that it is interpreted and rendered by the GitLab server. This can lead to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-1331-ibm-cics-local-user-code-execution-vulnerability\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"59963\">execution of arbitrary JavaScript code<\/a> within the victim&#8217;s browser in the context of the affected site, thus potentially leading to account takeover.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1546014513\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>A conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited is shown below:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/search HTTP\/1.1\nHost: gitlab.example.com\nContent-Type: application\/x-www-form-urlencoded\nquery=&lt;img src=x onerror=alert(&#039;Account compromised&#039;)&gt;<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this example, the attacker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-26854-critical-sql-injection-vulnerability-in-joomla-good-search-extension\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"69054\">injects a malicious HTML tag into the search<\/a> query. When this query is rendered by the victim&#8217;s browser, the `onerror` JavaScript event is triggered, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2011-10007-arbitrary-code-execution-vulnerability-in-file-find-rule-for-perl\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"60001\">executing the attacker&#8217;s arbitrary<\/a> script. Depending on the complexity of the script, this could lead to session hijacking, account takeover, or even <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5868-critical-vulnerability-in-rt-thread-leading-to-system-compromise-and-data-leakage\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63892\">system compromise<\/a>.<br \/>\nPlease note that this is a conceptual example and real-world exploits may be more complex and sophisticated.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation and Fixes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Users are advised to immediately update their GitLab <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-2254-cross-site-scripting-vulnerability-in-gitlab-ce-ee\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"61403\">CE\/EE<\/a> installations to version 18.0.2 or later which contains the patch for this vulnerability. If immediate application of the vendor patch is not possible, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation measure.<br \/>\nRemember, staying updated on the latest software versions and implementing recommended <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-28389-critical-security-vulnerability-in-openc3-cosmos-v6-0-0-due-to-weak-password-requirements\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"61595\">security measures is the best defense against such vulnerabilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview A crucial vulnerability, designated as CVE-2025-4278, has been detected in GitLab CE\/EE that affects all versions commencing with 18.0 and prior to 18.0.2. This vulnerability arises due to an HTML injection in the new search page under specific circumstances and could potentially lead to account takeover. As GitLab is a widely adopted platform for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[102],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-53562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","vendor-gitlab"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53562"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74345,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53562\/revisions\/74345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53562"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=53562"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=53562"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=53562"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=53562"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=53562"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=53562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}