CVE-2019-10110 in Community Edition
Summary
by MITRE
An Insecure Permissions issue (issue 1 of 3) was discovered in GitLab Community and Enterprise Edition before 11.7.8, 11.8.x before 11.8.4, and 11.9.x before 11.9.2. The "move issue" feature may allow a user to create projects under any namespace on any GitLab instance on which they hold credentials.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/21/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-10110 represents a critical insecure permissions flaw within GitLab's issue management system that affects multiple versions of both Community and Enterprise editions. This security weakness stems from inadequate access controls surrounding the "move issue" functionality, which permits authenticated users to manipulate project structures in ways that were not intended by the application's security model. The flaw exists in versions prior to 11.7.8, 11.8.4, and 11.9.2, indicating a prolonged window of exposure that could have allowed malicious actors to exploit the vulnerability with minimal technical sophistication. The root cause of this issue lies in the insufficient validation of user permissions when executing the move operation, particularly concerning namespace access controls that should normally restrict users to their own project spaces.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability enables an authenticated attacker to leverage the move issue feature to create new projects under any namespace within the GitLab instance, regardless of their actual authorization level. This permission bypass allows users to essentially escalate their privileges by creating projects in namespaces where they would normally have no access rights, effectively breaking the fundamental namespace isolation that GitLab implements to protect organizational boundaries and data segregation. The impact extends beyond simple project creation, as this capability can be used to establish unauthorized access points, potentially leading to further privilege escalation or data exposure within the broader GitLab environment. The vulnerability specifically affects the authorization checks that should normally prevent users from creating projects in namespaces they do not own or have explicit permissions for, creating a direct path to unauthorized resource manipulation.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability presents significant risks to organizations relying on GitLab for version control and collaboration, particularly those with multiple teams or projects that require strict access controls. The ability to create projects under any namespace essentially undermines the entire permission architecture of GitLab, potentially allowing attackers to establish persistent access points or create malicious project structures that could be used for further exploitation. Security teams would need to conduct immediate audits of their GitLab instances to identify if any unauthorized projects had been created, as well as review access logs for suspicious activity related to project creation or namespace manipulation. The vulnerability also impacts compliance requirements, as it could potentially allow unauthorized access to sensitive projects or data that should be restricted to specific user groups or teams, making it particularly dangerous for organizations subject to regulatory compliance frameworks such as SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA.
Organizations should immediately implement the security patches released by GitLab for versions 11.7.8, 11.8.4, and 11.9.2 to remediate this vulnerability, while also conducting comprehensive reviews of their GitLab access controls and monitoring for any unauthorized project creation activity. The remediation process should include verification that all affected GitLab instances have been updated to patched versions, followed by security audits to identify any potential exploitation that may have already occurred. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing additional monitoring controls around project creation events and namespace access patterns to detect similar issues in the future, as this vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper access control validation in collaborative development platforms. This issue aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control, and represents a clear violation of the principle of least privilege that should be maintained in all software systems. The ATT&CK framework would categorize this as a privilege escalation technique, specifically involving the abuse of application permissions to gain unauthorized access to system resources.