CVE-2025-2853 in Community Edition
Summary
by MITRE • 05/22/2025
An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions before 17.10.7, 17.11 before 17.11.3, and 18.0 before 18.0.1. A lack of proper validation in GitLab could allow an authenticated user to cause a denial of service condition.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/24/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-2853 represents a critical denial of service flaw within GitLab Community and Enterprise editions that impacts multiple version streams. This issue stems from insufficient input validation mechanisms within the GitLab platform, specifically when processing user-submitted data. The flaw exists in the authentication and data handling components of GitLab's core architecture, creating a pathway for malicious actors to exploit the system's resource management processes. Security researchers have determined that the vulnerability manifests when authenticated users submit malformed or specially crafted inputs that bypass normal validation checks, leading to unexpected behavior in the application's processing pipelines.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability resides in GitLab's internal validation routines that fail to properly sanitize or verify user inputs before processing them through core system functions. When an authenticated user exploits this weakness, the system enters a state where it repeatedly processes the malformed input, consuming excessive CPU cycles and memory resources. This condition can escalate to complete system unresponsiveness or crash the application entirely, effectively preventing legitimate users from accessing GitLab services. The vulnerability is particularly concerning because it requires only authenticated access, meaning that any user with valid credentials can potentially trigger the denial of service condition. This flaw aligns with CWE-20, which describes improper input validation as a fundamental security weakness that can lead to various attack vectors including resource exhaustion and service disruption.
The operational impact of CVE-2025-2853 extends beyond simple service interruption, as it can severely compromise the availability and reliability of GitLab instances within organizations. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to disrupt development workflows, particularly in environments where GitLab serves as a central repository for code management, CI/CD pipelines, and collaborative development activities. The resource exhaustion effects can cascade through dependent systems, potentially affecting continuous integration processes, automated testing environments, and backup operations that rely on GitLab's stability. Organizations using GitLab for critical infrastructure management face significant risk of operational downtime that can result in delayed software releases, compromised development schedules, and potential financial losses. The vulnerability's presence in multiple version streams including 17.10, 17.11, and 18.0 indicates a widespread issue affecting various deployment scenarios and upgrade paths.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability require immediate action from GitLab administrators and security teams. The primary solution involves upgrading to the patched versions 17.10.7, 17.11.3, or 18.0.1, which contain the necessary validation fixes to prevent the exploitation of this denial of service condition. Organizations should implement network-level monitoring to detect unusual resource consumption patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts, particularly focusing on authentication and data processing endpoints. Additional defensive measures include implementing rate limiting mechanisms on user authentication and data submission functions, establishing automated alerts for abnormal system behavior, and conducting regular security audits of GitLab configurations. The vulnerability's classification under ATT&CK technique T1499.004, which covers network denial of service attacks, emphasizes the need for comprehensive incident response procedures. Security teams should also consider implementing application firewalls and intrusion detection systems that can identify and block malicious input patterns associated with this specific vulnerability. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to verify that the patch has effectively resolved the issue and to identify any potential secondary impacts on system functionality.