A confusion between tag and branch names in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions since 13.7 allowed a Developer to access protected CI varia…

published 2021-08-23 5 y ago modified 2026-09-08 2 mo ago also BIT-gitlab-2021-22252 , EUVD-2021-9398

cvss: 6.5; version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 1.1%; EPSS 1.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 66%
public exploits: 0; none known

A confusion between tag and branch names in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions since 13.7 allowed a Developer to access protected CI variables which should only be accessible to Maintainers

Patch / fix

fixed in 3

bitnami gitlab 13.12.9, 14.0.7, 14.1.2
gitlab gitlab 13.12.9, 14.0.7, 14.1.2
gitlab gitlab_enterprise 13.12.9, 14.0.7, 14.1.2

Exploit prediction

1.13% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 66% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by	version	score	vector
CNA	3.1	6.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD	3.1	6.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD	2.0	4.0	AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N
OSV	3.1	6.5	CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem	package	affected	fixed in
bitnami	gitlab	>=13.7.0, <13.12.9 >=14.0.0, <14.0.7 >=14.1.0, <14.1.2	13.12.9 14.0.7 14.1.2

Affected products

GitLab GitLab

Classification

Technology feeds

GitLab rss critical rss

References

gitlab.com /gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2021/CVE-2021-22252.json
vendor-advisory, advisory
gitlab.com /gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/330364
broken-link, web
hackerone.com /reports/1186135
third-party-advisory, advisory
nvd.nist.gov /vuln/detail/CVE-2021-22252
web

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Enhance with deb and rpm package type records.

Summary