{"id":55821,"date":"2025-06-29T00:26:45","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T00:26:45","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-21T05:20:54","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T11:20:54","slug":"cve-2025-5121-critical-security-vulnerability-in-gitlab-ce-ee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5121-critical-security-vulnerability-in-gitlab-ce-ee\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-5121: Critical Security Vulnerability in GitLab CE\/EE<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this post, we are going to examine CVE-2025-5121, a critical security issue recently discovered in GitLab CE\/EE. This vulnerability affects all versions of GitLab CE\/EE from 17.11 before 17.11.4 and 18.0 before 18.0.2. The issue lies in a missing authorization check that could <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6436-critical-memory-safety-bugs-in-firefox-and-thunderbird-potentially-allowing-arbitrary-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"64770\">potentially allow<\/a> compliance frameworks to be applied to projects outside their designated groups. This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49847-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-llama-cpp-leading-to-potential-code-execution\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62618\">vulnerability is of high significance as it opens up potential<\/a> system compromises and data leakages.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-5121<br \/>\nSeverity: Critical (8.5 CVSS Score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: Low<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49415-path-traversal-vulnerability-in-fw-gallery-with-potential-for-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62431\">Potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-302288926\" 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 | 17.11 to 17.11.3<br \/>\nGitLab EE | 18.0 to 18.0.1<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This exploit works by taking advantage of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-32281-high-severity-missing-authorization-vulnerability-in-focuxtheme-wpkit-for-elementor\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65309\">missing authorization<\/a> check in the compliance framework of GitLab CE\/EE. As a result, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-2297-user-profile-manipulation-leading-to-unauthorized-privilege-escalation\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"90691\">unauthorized users<\/a> can apply compliance frameworks to projects outside of the framework&#8217;s group. This could allow an attacker to manipulate project settings, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-32878-critical-vulnerability-in-coros-pace-3-devices-leads-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63213\">potentially compromising the system<\/a>, or leading to data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3957525643\" 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>The following is a conceptual example of how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability. It involves sending a malicious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6162-critical-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-totolink-ex1200t-http-post-request-handler\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62279\">HTTP POST request<\/a> to the GitLab server.<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/projects\/:id\/compliance_frameworks HTTP\/1.1\nHost: gitlab.example.com\nContent-Type: application\/json\n{\n&quot;compliance_framework&quot;: {\n&quot;name&quot;: &quot;ISO 27001&quot;,\n&quot;color&quot;: &quot;#F00&quot;,\n&quot;description&quot;: &quot;This is a malicious compliance framework&quot;,\n&quot;group_id&quot;: &quot;target_group_id&quot;\n}\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this example, the attacker is able to set a compliance framework on a project they shouldn&#8217;t have access to by specifying the target group id in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-54007-untrusted-data-deserialization-vulnerability-in-pickplugins-post-grid-and-gutenberg-blocks\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79080\">POST data<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation Guidance<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Users are advised to apply the vendor-supplied patches immediately. GitLab has released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2015-0843-critical-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-yubiserver-before-version-0-6\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65149\">versions 17.11.4 and 18.0.2 that address this vulnerability<\/a>. In the interim, the use of Web Application Firewalls (WAF) or Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation. Remain vigilant, it is crucial to keep your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6370-critical-vulnerability-in-d-link-dir-619l-2-06b01-leading-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"63396\">systems updated to prevent potential<\/a> exploits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview In this post, we are going to examine CVE-2025-5121, a critical security issue recently discovered in GitLab CE\/EE. This vulnerability affects all versions of GitLab CE\/EE from 17.11 before 17.11.4 and 18.0 before 18.0.2. The issue lies in a missing authorization check that could potentially allow compliance frameworks to be applied to projects outside [&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-55821","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\/55821","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=55821"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83634,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55821\/revisions\/83634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55821"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=55821"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=55821"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=55821"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=55821"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=55821"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=55821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}