CVEs / CVE-2021-22205
CVE-2021-22205: GitLab Community and Enterprise Editions Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
- Known exploited in the CISA KEV catalog since 3 Nov 2021
- critical 10 CVSS 3.1 (NVD)
- EPSS 99.7% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 99% of CVEs (30 Oct 2026)
- Last changed at its sources
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Summary
GitHub Community and Enterprise Editions that utilize the ability to upload images through GitLab Workhorse are vulnerable to remote code execution. Workhorse passes image file extensions through ExifTool, which improperly validates the image files.
Description
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.
Affected and fixed versions
| Product | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| GitLab GitLab | >=11.9, <13.8.8 | — |
| GitLab GitLab | >=13.9, <13.9.6 | — |
| GitLab GitLab | >=13.10, <13.10.3 | — |
Exploitation
| In CISA KEV since | 3 Nov 2021 |
|---|---|
| Due date for US federal agencies | 17 Nov 2021 |
| Used in ransomware campaigns | Known |
| Required action | Apply updates per vendor instructions. |
Severity
| CVSS 3.1 | 10 criticalCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HScored by NVD |
|---|---|
| Weakness | CWE-94 |
References
- CVE-2021-22205 on NVD
- CVE-2021-22205 in the CISA KEV catalog
- CVE-2021-22205 on OSV
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164768/GitLab-Unauthenticated-Remote-ExifTool-Command-Injection.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164994/GitLab-13.10.2-Remote-Code-Execution.html Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2021/CVE-2021-22205.json Vendor Advisory
- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/327121 Broken Link
- https://hackerone.com/reports/1154542 Permissions Required, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-22205 US Government Resource
Sources
Exploitation status from the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. EPSS scores from FIRST. Descriptions, severity and references from the National Vulnerability Database. Open-source package versions from OSV (CC-BY 4.0). Text is shown as each source states it; Stackurity does not edit it. Check the vendor's advisory before acting.
This product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD.