CVE-2024-8973 in Community Edition
Summary
by MITRE • 05/09/2025
An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 17.1 prior to 17.9.8, from 17.10 prior to 17.10.6, and from 17.11 prior to 17.11.2. It was possible to cause a DoS condition via GitHub import requests using a malicious crafted payload.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 08/08/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2024-8973 represents a critical denial of service weakness in GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition products. This issue specifically impacts versions beginning with 17.1 through 17.9.7, 17.10 through 17.10.5, and 17.11 through 17.11.1, creating a persistent security gap that allows malicious actors to disrupt normal service operations. The flaw manifests during GitHub import operations, where specially crafted payloads can trigger system instability and resource exhaustion. This vulnerability directly impacts the availability aspect of the CIA triad by enabling unauthorized parties to compromise system uptime and accessibility.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and sanitization within GitLab's GitHub import functionality. When processing import requests from GitHub repositories, the system fails to properly validate or sanitize incoming payload data, creating an opportunity for attackers to craft malicious inputs that exploit memory handling mechanisms. This weakness aligns with CWE-400, which categorizes improper input validation as a fundamental security flaw that can lead to resource exhaustion and system instability. The vulnerability operates by consuming excessive computational resources or triggering memory allocation failures during the import process, effectively preventing legitimate users from accessing the system's import capabilities.
The operational impact of CVE-2024-8973 extends beyond simple service disruption to encompass broader organizational consequences. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to target GitLab instances in production environments, potentially causing cascading effects across development workflows and continuous integration pipelines. The DoS condition can persist until manual intervention occurs, forcing system administrators to restart services or implement emergency patches. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations that rely heavily on automated import processes and continuous integration systems, where such disruptions can halt development cycles and compromise deployment schedules. The attack surface is broad since GitHub import functionality is commonly used across various GitLab implementations, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous in multi-tenant environments.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should prioritize immediate patching of affected GitLab instances to versions 17.9.8, 17.10.6, or 17.11.2 respectively, as these releases contain the necessary security fixes. Organizations should implement network-level restrictions to limit access to import functionality, particularly for untrusted users or external systems. Monitoring and logging should be enhanced to detect anomalous import request patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The remediation process should include thorough testing of patched environments to ensure that legitimate import operations continue functioning normally. Additionally, organizations should consider implementing rate limiting and input validation controls to further reduce the attack surface. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of proper input validation in web applications and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1499.004 which covers network denial of service attacks. The incident highlights the critical need for comprehensive security testing, particularly around data import and processing functions that handle external inputs. Organizations should also review their incident response procedures to ensure rapid detection and remediation of similar vulnerabilities in the future.