CVE-2024-11222 in GitLab
Summary
by MITRE • 09/16/2026
GitLab has remediated an issue in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 13.0 before 19.1.8, 19.2 before 19.2.6, and 19.3 before 19.3.2 that under certain conditions could have allowed a developer user to perform actions in the context of another user's merge request commit due to a race condition issue in pipeline creation.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/16/2026
GitLab has addressed a critical security vulnerability affecting both Community Edition and Enterprise Edition installations across multiple version ranges, specifically versions prior to 19.1.8, 19.2 before 19.2.6, and 19.3 before 19.3.2. This flaw stems from a race condition inherent in the pipeline creation mechanism within the GitLab application logic. The vulnerability allows an authenticated developer user to exploit timing discrepancies during concurrent operations involving merge requests and their associated commits. By carefully crafting requests that trigger simultaneous processing, an attacker can manipulate the state of the system such that actions intended for one user's context are executed under the identity or permissions of another user involved in a different merge request commit. This represents a significant breach of isolation boundaries within the platform, undermining the fundamental principle that users should only have access to resources and capabilities explicitly granted by their assigned roles.
The technical root cause lies in how GitLab handles concurrent pipeline creation events when multiple developers are interacting with related or overlapping code changes. In environments where merge requests are frequently updated or where continuous integration pipelines trigger automatically upon push, the application may fail to properly serialize access to shared resources or validate user context at every step of the asynchronous workflow. This lack of strict atomicity in state transitions creates a window of opportunity for race conditions. An attacker can leverage this by submitting multiple concurrent requests that target different merge request commits but share underlying system states. If the timing is precise, the application may process these requests out of order or fail to enforce context isolation correctly, resulting in one user's actions being attributed to another. This type of flaw is particularly dangerous because it does not require traditional injection techniques or authentication bypasses; instead, it relies on the inherent unpredictability of concurrent execution paths within a multi-user web application environment.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability poses severe risks related to integrity and accountability. If successful exploitation occurs, a malicious developer could perform actions such as modifying pipeline configurations, injecting code into build artifacts, or altering commit metadata in the context of another user's work. This can lead to unauthorized modifications of project settings, potential compromise of CI/CD pipelines if they have elevated privileges, and significant confusion regarding who is responsible for specific changes within a repository. In regulated industries where audit trails are mandatory, this erosion of accurate attribution undermines compliance efforts and makes forensic analysis difficult. Furthermore, it could facilitate supply chain attacks by allowing an attacker to tamper with build processes or inject malicious code into artifacts that are subsequently deployed to production environments under the guise of legitimate development activity.
This vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-362, which describes concurrent execution using shared resources with improper synchronization. The exploitation technique also maps to MITRE ATT&CK tactics involving privilege escalation and lateral movement within a software delivery pipeline context. Specifically, it relates to techniques that abuse CI/CD systems for unauthorized access or modification of build artifacts. To mitigate this risk, organizations running affected versions must upgrade immediately to the specified patched releases: 19.1.8, 19.2.6, or 19.3.2 and later. For those unable to patch instantly due to operational constraints, implementing strict access controls on CI/CD variables and limiting developer permissions in shared projects can reduce the blast radius of potential exploitation. Additionally, monitoring logs for unusual patterns of concurrent pipeline creation requests may help detect attempted exploits before they result in successful context switching or unauthorized actions.