CVE-2022-2931 in Community Edition
Summary
by MITRE • 10/17/2022
A potential DOS vulnerability was discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions before 15.1.6, all versions starting from 15.2 before 15.2.4, all versions starting from 15.3 before 15.3.2. Malformed content added to the issue description could have been used to trigger high CPU usage.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/28/2026
This vulnerability represents a denial of service condition within GitLab's issue tracking system that could be exploited through crafted malicious content in issue descriptions. The flaw specifically affects GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition installations across multiple version ranges, creating a persistent security risk for organizations relying on these platforms for their development workflows. The vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation mechanisms that fail to properly handle malformed data structures when processing issue descriptions, leading to excessive computational resource consumption. The technical implementation of this vulnerability demonstrates a classic buffer over-read or parsing error pattern where the system attempts to process malformed content without proper boundary checks or sanitization routines.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple service disruption to potentially compromise the entire GitLab instance's stability and performance. When an attacker crafts a malicious issue description containing malformed content, the GitLab processing engine enters into a high CPU consumption loop as it attempts to parse and render the problematic data. This behavior aligns with CWE-129, which addresses issues related to insufficient input validation, and can be categorized under ATT&CK technique T1499.3 for network denial of service attacks. The vulnerability affects the core rendering and processing capabilities of GitLab's web interface, making it particularly dangerous as it can impact multiple users simultaneously while consuming system resources at an unsustainable rate. Organizations may experience complete service unavailability for issue tracking functionality, forcing administrators to restart services or implement emergency patches.
The mitigation strategy for this vulnerability requires immediate patching of affected GitLab installations to versions 15.1.6, 15.2.4, or 15.3.2, depending on the current version in use. System administrators should implement input sanitization measures at the application level, including enhanced validation of user-provided content in issue descriptions and other editable fields. Network-level protections can be implemented through rate limiting and content filtering mechanisms to prevent malicious payloads from reaching the application layer. Organizations should also consider implementing monitoring solutions that can detect unusual CPU consumption patterns and automatically alert administrators to potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper input validation and the need for robust sanitization routines in web applications, particularly those handling user-generated content. Additionally, security teams should conduct regular vulnerability assessments to identify similar parsing issues in other components of their GitLab installations and related development tools.