CVE-2026-3176 in Enterprise Edition
Summary
by MITRE • 06/25/2026
GitLab has remediated an issue in GitLab EE affecting all versions from 18.6 before 18.11.6, 19.0 before 19.0.3, and 19.1 before 19.1.1 that under certain conditions could have allowed an authenticated user with limited permissions to access project information due to insufficient authorization checks.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/25/2026
This vulnerability represents a critical authorization bypass flaw in GitLab Enterprise Edition that affected multiple version streams including 18.6 through 18.11.5, 19.0 through 19.0.2, and 19.1 through 19.1.0. The issue stems from inadequate permission validation mechanisms within the application's access control system, allowing authenticated users with minimal privileges to potentially extract sensitive project data that should have been restricted to authorized personnel only. Such a flaw directly violates fundamental security principles of least privilege and mandatory access controls that are essential for protecting organizational intellectual property and confidential information stored within version control systems.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability likely involves insufficient input validation or authorization checking within the GitLab application's API endpoints or internal data access methods. When users with limited permissions attempt to access project resources, the system fails to properly verify whether these users possess adequate authorization levels to view the requested information. This type of flaw commonly occurs in complex web applications where multiple permission layers and access control checks must be coordinated across various components and services. The vulnerability can be categorized under CWE-285 which specifically addresses insufficient authorization issues in software systems, making it particularly concerning for enterprise environments where GitLab serves as a central hub for code management and collaboration.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure to potentially compromise the entire security posture of organizations relying on GitLab for their development workflows. An authenticated user with limited permissions could access sensitive project information including source code, configuration files, issue trackers, and other confidential data that might contain trade secrets, security credentials, or business-critical information. This represents a significant risk to organizational security as it allows unauthorized individuals to gain insights into ongoing projects that they should not have access to, potentially enabling competitive intelligence gathering or facilitating further exploitation attempts within the development environment.
Organizations utilizing affected GitLab versions should immediately implement mitigations including upgrading to the patched releases mentioned in the advisory, which address the specific authorization bypass conditions. System administrators should conduct comprehensive audits of user permissions and access controls to identify any potential exploitation attempts that may have occurred during the vulnerable period. The remediation process should also include reviewing application logs for anomalous access patterns and implementing additional monitoring controls to detect similar authorization violations. From an operational security perspective, this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1078 which covers valid accounts usage, as it exploits legitimate user credentials to gain unauthorized access to information. Organizations should strengthen their privileged access management policies and consider implementing zero-trust principles for code repositories where even authenticated users require explicit authorization for each access attempt.