CVE-2021-22205
GitLab Community and Enterprise Editions Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
Does this matter?
Known to be exploited in the wild (CISA KEV, CISA remediation deadline 17 November 2021). Treat as an emergency change: patch or isolate now, then hunt for prior compromise.
Description
An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 11.9. GitLab was not properly validating image files that were passed to a file parser which resulted in a remote command execution.
- CVSS 3.1
- 10.0 CRITICALCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 99.73% probability · 100th percentile
- Public exploits
- 1 in Exploit-DB · first 17 November 2021
- CISA KEV
- Listed 3 November 2021 · due 17 November 2021 · used in ransomware campaigns
- Weakness
- CWE-94
- Affected
- gitlab/gitlab
- Source
- cve@gitlab.com
EPSS 99.7% since 30 October 2026; no change recorded yet. The dashed line is the ten per cent mark our analysts treat as “patch before the next change window”. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
CISA notes
Apply updates per vendor instructions. https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-22205
Public exploits (1)
Entries in Exploit-DB that cite this CVE. Links go to the Exploit-DB page and to the file in the public repository; nothing is hosted here. A verified tick means the Exploit-DB team confirmed the exploit works against the stated version.
References
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164768/GitLab-Unauthenticated-Remote-ExifTool-Command-Injection.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164994/GitLab-13.10.2-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2021/CVE-2021-22205.jsonVendor Advisory
- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/327121Broken Link
- https://hackerone.com/reports/1154542Permissions Required, Third Party Advisory
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164768/GitLab-Unauthenticated-Remote-ExifTool-Command-Injection.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/164994/GitLab-13.10.2-Remote-Code-Execution.htmlExploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2021/CVE-2021-22205.jsonVendor Advisory
- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/327121Broken Link
- https://hackerone.com/reports/1154542Permissions Required, Third Party Advisory
- https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2021-22205US Government Resource
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.