CVE-2018-14606 in Community Edition
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in GitLab Community and Enterprise Edition before 10.8.7, 11.0.x before 11.0.5, and 11.1.x before 11.1.2. XSS can occur via a Milestone name during a promotion.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 04/27/2023
This vulnerability represents a cross-site scripting flaw in GitLab's milestone promotion functionality that affects multiple versions of the platform. The issue manifests when users interact with milestone names during the promotion process, creating a potential attack vector for malicious actors to inject harmful scripts into the application's web interface. The vulnerability exists in both Community and Enterprise editions, indicating a widespread impact across the GitLab product line. This type of flaw falls under CWE-79 which specifically addresses cross-site scripting vulnerabilities, where improper validation or sanitization of user-supplied data allows attackers to execute malicious scripts in the context of other users' browsers.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability occurs during the milestone promotion workflow where the application fails to properly sanitize user input before rendering milestone names in the web interface. When a user creates or modifies a milestone name and subsequently promotes it, the application directly incorporates this unvalidated data into HTML output without appropriate encoding or filtering mechanisms. This allows attackers to inject malicious JavaScript code that executes in the browser context of other users who view the affected milestone. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it operates within a legitimate administrative workflow, making it more likely to be encountered in normal usage patterns.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple script execution as it can enable attackers to perform a wide range of malicious activities including session hijacking, data theft, and unauthorized access to GitLab repositories. An attacker could craft a malicious milestone name that, when viewed by other users, would execute scripts to steal authentication cookies or redirect users to phishing sites. The vulnerability also provides a potential pathway for privilege escalation attacks, as authenticated users could leverage this flaw to gain elevated privileges within the GitLab environment. This type of vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.007 which covers scripting through web shells, and T1566 which addresses social engineering through malicious links in web applications.
Organizations using affected GitLab versions should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to patched versions 10.8.7, 11.0.5, or 11.1.2 respectively. Additionally, administrators should consider implementing web application firewalls to filter suspicious input patterns and conduct thorough security reviews of milestone-related workflows. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of input validation and output encoding in web applications, particularly in administrative interfaces where users may have elevated privileges. Security teams should also monitor for any unauthorized changes to milestone configurations and implement proper access controls to limit who can create or modify milestones. This incident highlights the critical need for comprehensive security testing of user-facing interfaces and the importance of maintaining up-to-date software versions to protect against known vulnerabilities.