CVE-2024-7102 in Community Edition
Summary
by MITRE • 02/13/2025
An issue was discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 16.4 prior to 17.5.0 which allows an attacker to trigger a pipeline as another user under certain circumstances.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/22/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-7102 represents a critical authorization bypass flaw in GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition platforms. This security issue affects versions from 16.4 through 17.4.0, creating a scenario where malicious actors can manipulate pipeline execution permissions to run jobs under the identity of other users. The flaw stems from insufficient validation mechanisms within the pipeline triggering functionality that allows unauthorized privilege escalation through crafted requests. This vulnerability directly impacts the integrity of CI/CD workflows and undermines the principle of least privilege that should govern access controls in software development environments.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs within GitLab's pipeline scheduling and execution subsystem where user identity validation fails during specific pipeline trigger operations. Attackers can exploit this weakness by crafting malicious requests that appear to originate from legitimate users while actually executing with elevated privileges. The flaw operates at the application layer and requires minimal privileges to exploit, making it particularly dangerous in environments where multiple developers have access to pipeline triggering mechanisms. This type of vulnerability is categorized under CWE-863, which specifically addresses "Incorrect Authorization" conditions where the system fails to properly validate user permissions before granting access to protected resources. The vulnerability manifests when GitLab's authorization checks are bypassed during pipeline creation or triggering events, allowing unauthorized execution of jobs with the permissions of other users.
The operational impact of CVE-2024-7102 extends beyond simple privilege escalation to potentially enable complete compromise of development environments and code repositories. An attacker could leverage this vulnerability to execute malicious code within CI/CD pipelines, access sensitive source code, manipulate build processes, or even exfiltrate confidential data through compromised pipeline jobs. The vulnerability creates a persistent backdoor within the development infrastructure that could remain undetected for extended periods, especially in environments where pipeline monitoring and auditing are insufficient. This flaw particularly affects organizations relying heavily on GitLab for continuous integration and deployment processes, where pipeline integrity is paramount for maintaining secure software delivery practices. The attack vector aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078.004, which covers legitimate credentials used for persistence, as attackers can effectively impersonate other users within the CI/CD environment without requiring additional authentication credentials.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including updating to GitLab versions 17.5.0 or later where this vulnerability has been addressed through enhanced authorization checks and improved pipeline trigger validation. Additional protective measures include implementing stricter pipeline access controls, enabling comprehensive audit logging for pipeline operations, and conducting regular security assessments of CI/CD environments. Security teams should also consider implementing network-level restrictions on pipeline triggering endpoints and establishing automated monitoring for suspicious pipeline execution patterns. The fix implemented by GitLab addresses the root cause through strengthened user identity verification mechanisms and proper authorization enforcement during pipeline creation and execution processes. Organizations should also review their existing pipeline configurations to ensure that only authorized users have trigger permissions and that pipeline execution logs are properly monitored for anomalous activities.