CVE-2019-6782 in Community Edition
Summary
by MITRE
An issue was discovered in GitLab Community and Enterprise Edition before 11.5.8, 11.6.x before 11.6.6, and 11.7.x before 11.7.1. It allows Information Disclosure (issue 1 of 6). An authorization issue allows the contributed project information of a private profile to be viewed.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/18/2023
The vulnerability described in CVE-2019-6782 represents a critical authorization flaw within GitLab's access control mechanisms that affects multiple versions of the platform. This issue falls under the category of information disclosure, where unauthorized users can access sensitive data that should be restricted to authorized personnel only. The vulnerability specifically targets the privacy controls surrounding contributed project information within private profiles, creating a scenario where the confidentiality of user data is compromised through improper access validation.
The technical implementation of this flaw stems from inadequate authorization checks within GitLab's backend systems that manage user profile information and project contributions. When users access private profiles, the system should enforce strict access controls to ensure that only authorized individuals can view the contributed project data. However, this vulnerability demonstrates that the authorization logic fails to properly validate user permissions, allowing unauthorized access to project contribution information that should remain private. This authorization bypass occurs at the application level where the system does not adequately verify whether the requesting user has proper clearance to view the specific project information within a private profile.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure, as it undermines the fundamental security model of GitLab's user privacy controls. Attackers who exploit this issue can potentially gather intelligence about private projects, user contributions, and collaboration patterns that may reveal sensitive information about development workflows, project timelines, and team structures. This information disclosure can be particularly damaging in enterprise environments where private repositories contain proprietary code, strategic project information, or sensitive business data. The vulnerability affects both community and enterprise editions, indicating a widespread impact across different deployment scenarios and user bases.
The flaw aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization issues in software systems, and demonstrates how insufficient access control validation can lead to unauthorized information disclosure. From an adversarial perspective, this vulnerability maps to ATT&CK technique T1083, which involves discovering file and directory permissions, as attackers can exploit this authorization bypass to gather information about project contributions and user activities. The security implications suggest that organizations using affected GitLab versions may be unknowingly exposing sensitive development data to unauthorized parties, potentially compromising intellectual property and development security.
Organizations should immediately upgrade to the patched versions of GitLab that address this authorization issue, specifically versions 11.5.8, 11.6.6, and 11.7.1 or later. The mitigation strategy involves implementing proper access control validation for all profile information requests and ensuring that the authorization logic properly checks user permissions before granting access to private project data. System administrators should also conduct thorough audits of user access controls and monitor for unauthorized access attempts that might indicate exploitation of this vulnerability. Additionally, organizations should implement network-level monitoring to detect suspicious access patterns that could indicate attempts to exploit the authorization bypass.