GitLab Rushes Out Fixes for Two Critical Server Flaws, One Lets Strangers Read Private Files

Key points

• GitLab issued emergency patches on Thursday for two critical flaws affecting its self-hosted Community and Enterprise editions.
• CVE-2023-2825, a path traversal bug rated maximum severity, lets unauthenticated attackers read files from vulnerable servers.
• A second flaw, CVE-2026-87719, lets logged-in users with Duo Chat access steal credentials and search configurations.
• Fixed versions are GitLab 19.3.2, 19.2.6 and 19.1; GitLab.com and GitLab Dedicated customers do not need to act.
• GitLab is used by more than 30 million registered users and over half of the Fortune 100.

GitLab told customers on Thursday to patch their self-hosted servers straight away against two critical security holes, including one rated the highest possible severity.

The worst of the pair is CVE-2023-2825, a path traversal flaw. Path traversal means an attacker can trick a web application into reaching outside the folders it is supposed to serve and pulling back files it should never share, things like source code, passwords or configuration secrets. In this case, GitLab says an attacker does not even need to log in to exploit it, though only "under certain conditions."

The bug was found by a researcher using the handle 's3ntago' and reported through GitLab's HackerOne bug bounty programme.

Who is affected?

Self-hosted GitLab customers, meaning companies that run the software on their own servers rather than using GitLab's cloud. GitLab.com is already patched, and GitLab Dedicated customers do not need to do anything.

That still leaves a lot of exposure. GitLab, a rival to Microsoft's GitHub, is a platform where software developers store and manage their code. The company says it has more than 30 million registered users, and more than half of the Fortune 100 use it, including Nvidia, Airbus, T-Mobile, Lockheed Martin, Goldman Sachs and UBS.

What is the second bug?

CVE-2026-87719 is an insecure deserialization flaw in the GraphQL subscription serializer, a component that handles data coming into the application. Deserialization bugs let attackers smuggle in booby-trapped data that the server then unpacks and acts on.

This one only affects GitLab Enterprise Edition, and the attacker has to already be logged in with access to Duo Chat, GitLab's AI assistant. Once in, they can lift sensitive credentials and Advanced Search instance configuration data. As first reported by BleepingComputer, GitLab pushed the fix on Wednesday, a day before the path traversal patch.

What should administrators do?

Upgrade now. GitLab has released fixed builds for both Community Edition and Enterprise Edition.

"These versions contain important bug and security fixes, and we strongly recommend that all self-managed GitLab installations be upgraded to one of these versions immediately," the company said.

Should ordinary users worry?

Not directly. This is a flaw in the software companies use to build their products, not something an end user of, say, a bank's website would be exposed to. The risk is downstream. If a company's GitLab server is broken into, whatever they store there, source code, API keys, internal documents, could leak, and those leaks sometimes turn into breaches that reach customers weeks or months later.

A recurring theme

Path traversal is not a new class of bug. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI called such flaws "unforgivable" in a joint advisory last year, urging vendors to catch them before shipping.

GitLab has patched several serious flaws this year. In January the company fixed a two-factor authentication bypass in both editions. CISA has flagged four GitLab bugs as actively exploited since November 2021, including CVE-2021-22175 and CVE-2021-39935 in February.