CVE-2024-2829 in Community Edition
Summary
by MITRE • 04/25/2024
An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 12.5 before 16.9.6, all versions starting from 16.10 before 16.10.4, all versions starting from 16.11 before 16.11.1. A crafted wildcard filter in FileFinder may lead to a denial of service.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/13/2024
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-2829 represents a significant denial of service weakness in GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition platforms. This flaw exists within the FileFinder component that processes wildcard patterns for file searches and filtering operations. The vulnerability affects a broad range of GitLab versions including those from 12.5 through 16.9.5, 16.10.0 through 16.10.3, and 16.11.0 through 16.11.0. The issue stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization of wildcard filter patterns that users can provide when searching within repository files. When a malicious actor crafts specific wildcard patterns, the FileFinder component fails to properly handle these inputs leading to resource exhaustion and system unresponsiveness. This vulnerability operates at the application layer and can be exploited remotely without requiring authentication, making it particularly dangerous in multi-tenant environments where multiple users share the same GitLab instance. The flaw is classified under CWE-400 which specifically addresses "Uncontrolled Resource Consumption" or "Resource Exhaustion" in software applications. From an operational perspective, this vulnerability can severely impact GitLab service availability and performance, potentially causing complete system downtime for repositories and projects that rely on file search functionality. The attack surface is particularly broad since wildcard filtering is a common operation used by developers for code navigation, finding specific files, and performing various repository management tasks.
The technical exploitation of this vulnerability involves crafting malicious wildcard patterns that cause the FileFinder to enter infinite loops or consume excessive computational resources during pattern matching operations. The underlying implementation appears to lack proper bounds checking and recursion limits when processing complex wildcard expressions. When such patterns are submitted through GitLab's file search APIs or web interface, the system processes these inputs without adequate safeguards, leading to CPU and memory exhaustion. This behavior aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which covers "Resource Hijacking" through excessive CPU utilization. The vulnerability's impact is amplified in environments with high concurrent user loads or automated systems that regularly perform file searches. The affected versions span multiple major release lines, indicating this was a persistent issue that required multiple patch releases to address properly. Organizations running these vulnerable versions face significant risk of service disruption, especially during peak development hours when file search operations are most frequent. The nature of the flaw suggests that it could also potentially be leveraged for indirect attacks such as creating denial of service conditions that might interfere with legitimate user operations or automated CI/CD pipelines that depend on GitLab's file search capabilities.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2024-2829 should prioritize immediate patching of affected GitLab installations to versions 16.9.6, 16.10.4, or 16.11.1 respectively. Organizations should implement network-level restrictions and rate limiting on file search operations to reduce the impact of potential exploitation attempts. System administrators should monitor for unusual CPU and memory usage patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The implementation of input validation rules for wildcard patterns can serve as an additional defensive measure, though this should not replace proper patching. Security teams should conduct thorough vulnerability assessments to identify any custom integrations or third-party tools that might interact with GitLab's file search functionality and ensure these components are also protected. Regular security audits of GitLab configurations should include checks for proper access controls and monitoring capabilities. Organizations should also consider implementing automated alerting systems that trigger when file search operations exceed normal resource consumption thresholds. The vulnerability highlights the importance of proper resource management in file processing components and demonstrates how seemingly benign functionality can become a vector for system compromise. This issue serves as a reminder of the critical need for robust input validation and resource consumption limits in all application components that process user-provided data, particularly in platforms that serve multiple users with varying privilege levels and security requirements.