CVE-2021-22205 — GitLab Community and Enterprise Editions Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 11.9. GitLab was not properly validating image files that were passed to a file parser which resulted in a remote command execution.

01What is this vulnerability?

An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 11.9. GitLab was not properly validating image files that were passed to a file parser which resulted in a remote command execution.

02Affected products

Vendor	Product	Versions
GitLab	GitLab	>=11.9, <13.8.8, >=13.9, <13.9.6, >=13.10, <13.10.3

03Active exploitation status

Yes — actively exploited. Added to the CISA KEV catalog on 2021-11-03. Ransomware use: Known.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Open the Sigma generator with a pre-filled prompt for this CVE to draft a starting detection in your stack of choice:

Open in Sigma generator →

07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2021-04-23T17:39:36.000Z
• Last modified: 2025-10-21T23:25:48.290Z
• Added to CISA KEV: 2021-11-03
• BOD 22-01 due: 2021-11-17

09References

• hackerone.com — https://hackerone.com/reports/1154542
• gitlab.com — https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/327121
• gitlab.com — https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2021/CVE-2021-22205.json
• packetstormsecurity.com — http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164768/GitLab-Unauthenticated-Remote-ExifTo…
• packetstormsecurity.com — http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164994/GitLab-13.10.2-Remote-Code-Execution…