CVE-2025-0605 in Community Edition
Summary
by MITRE • 05/22/2025
An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 16.8 before 17.10.7, 17.11 before 17.11.3, and 18.0 before 18.0.1. Group access controls could allow certain users to bypass two-factor authentication requirements.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/23/2025
This vulnerability resides within GitLab's access control mechanisms, specifically targeting the authentication enforcement system for group-level permissions. The flaw allows unauthorized users to circumvent the mandatory two-factor authentication requirements that should be enforced for group access operations. This issue affects multiple version ranges including 16.8 through 17.9.6, 17.11 through 17.11.2, and 18.0 through 18.0.0, indicating a widespread impact across the GitLab platform's security architecture. The vulnerability represents a critical weakness in the principle of least privilege enforcement, where proper authentication controls fail to validate user credentials adequately during group access operations.
The technical implementation of this flaw involves a logic error within GitLab's group membership and access validation routines. When users attempt to access group resources, the system fails to properly enforce the two-factor authentication requirement that should be triggered for group-level operations. This occurs due to improper conditional checks or missing validation steps in the authentication flow that should ensure all group access requests undergo multi-factor verification. The vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and access control enforcement, specifically in how the system handles group membership transitions and permission checks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple authentication bypass to potentially compromise entire group-level access controls. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could gain unauthorized access to sensitive group resources without proper multi-factor authentication, potentially leading to code repository compromise, configuration changes, or unauthorized access to confidential project data. This weakness undermines the security posture of organizations relying on GitLab's group-based access controls and could enable lateral movement within development environments where group permissions are used to manage access to different project scopes. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284 Access Control Issues, specifically targeting improper access control mechanisms that allow unauthorized access to protected resources.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including updating to the patched versions 17.10.7, 17.11.3, or 18.0.1 depending on their current GitLab version. Additionally, administrators should review and audit existing group access controls to identify any potential unauthorized access that may have occurred during the vulnerable period. The mitigation strategy should include implementing additional monitoring for group access events and ensuring that all group-level operations enforce mandatory two-factor authentication. Security teams should also consider implementing temporary access restrictions for high-privilege groups while applying the patches and conducting thorough security audits. This vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and the potential consequences of authentication bypass flaws in collaborative development platforms. The issue also aligns with ATT&CK technique T1566 Credential Access through social engineering and privilege escalation vectors, emphasizing the need for comprehensive security controls beyond simple patch management.