CVE-2019-10115 in Community Edition
Summary
by MITRE
An Insecure Permissions issue (issue 2 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 GitLab Releases feature could allow guest users access to private information like release details and code information.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/21/2023
The vulnerability described in CVE-2019-10115 represents a critical permission escalation flaw within GitLab's access control mechanisms that affected multiple versions of the platform. This issue falls under the category of insecure permissions as classified by CWE-284, specifically targeting the release feature functionality that should have been restricted to authorized users only. The vulnerability was present in GitLab Community and Enterprise Edition installations running versions prior to 11.7.8, 11.8.4, and 11.9.2 respectively, indicating a widespread impact across the platform's user base. The flaw allowed unauthorized access to sensitive release information through the releases feature, which should have been protected from guest user access.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stemmed from inadequate access controls within the releases functionality of GitLab's code repository management system. Guest users, who typically should have minimal access rights, were able to bypass permission checks and retrieve detailed information about project releases including release notes, version details, and associated code information. This represents a direct violation of the principle of least privilege and demonstrates how insufficient input validation and access control checks can lead to information disclosure vulnerabilities. The issue was categorized as a privilege escalation problem where lower-privileged users could access resources typically restricted to higher-privileged roles, specifically affecting the project-level release management features.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extended beyond simple information disclosure to potentially enable more sophisticated attacks. Guest users gaining access to release details could potentially discover version information about software releases, which might reveal known vulnerabilities in the codebase or provide insights into development practices. This information could be leveraged by attackers to craft targeted attacks against specific versions of software, or to understand the development lifecycle and release patterns of organizations using GitLab. The vulnerability could also facilitate social engineering attacks by providing attackers with detailed project information that could be used to impersonate legitimate users or organizations. From an attacker's perspective, this represents a low-effort method to gather intelligence about target systems, aligning with techniques described in the ATT&CK framework under initial access and reconnaissance phases.
Organizations using affected GitLab versions faced significant security implications as this vulnerability could expose sensitive project information to unauthorized individuals. The impact was particularly concerning for enterprises managing proprietary software projects where release information might contain details about upcoming features, security patches, or code modifications that should remain confidential. The vulnerability could also affect compliance requirements in regulated environments where access control and information protection are mandatory. Mitigation efforts required immediate patching of affected systems to version 11.7.8 or later, ensuring that proper access controls were re-established for the releases feature. Security administrators needed to conduct thorough access control reviews and implement monitoring for unauthorized access attempts to release information. The vulnerability highlighted the importance of regular security updates and proper access control implementation in collaborative development platforms, emphasizing the need for comprehensive security testing of permission-related functionality. Organizations should also consider implementing additional monitoring and alerting mechanisms to detect unusual access patterns to release information, as this type of vulnerability could potentially be exploited for extended reconnaissance activities.