Cyber Resilience

CVE-2022-1175

XSS in Gitlab 14.4.0 – 14.7.7

Public PoCHigh EPSSXSS
Published
04 April 2022
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.7
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.82 99.6th percentile
Risk Priority 82 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2022-1175 is a high-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Gitlab Gitlab. Its CVSS base score is 8.7 (High).

Operationally, ranked in the top 0.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-15 (Information Output Filtering) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2022-1175 is a cross-site scripting vulnerability arising from improper neutralization of user input, tracked as CWE-79. It affects GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition in versions 14.4 prior to 14.7.7, all releases from 14.8 prior to 14.8.5, and all releases from 14.9 prior to 14.9.2. The flaw permits an attacker to inject HTML into notes, which is then rendered without adequate sanitization.

An authenticated user with permission to add notes can supply crafted HTML that executes in the context of other users who view the affected content. Because the CVSS vector includes a scope change and high impact on confidentiality and integrity, successful exploitation can lead to session hijacking, privilege escalation within the GitLab instance, or theft of sensitive project data.

Public advisories and the associated GitLab security tracker entries direct administrators to upgrade to the fixed releases listed above. The referenced HackerOne report and GitLab issue tracker entries confirm that the patches restore proper input handling for note content and that no additional configuration changes are required beyond applying the updates. The EPSS score has remained flat at its peak value with no material post-disclosure rise.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Improper neutralization of user input in GitLab CE/EE versions 14.4 before 14.7.7, all versions starting from 14.8 before 14.8.5, all versions starting from 14.9 before 14.9.2 allowed an attacker to exploit XSS by injecting HTML in notes.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

Likely ATT&CK TechniquesAI

Techniques this vulnerability likely enables, inferred from its description, weakness type, and attributed-actor tradecraft. Confidence is per-technique.

T1189 Drive-by Compromise Initial Accessconfidence: HIGH
Stored XSS in notes allows injection of malicious scripts that execute when other users view the content.
T1185 Browser Session Hijacking Collectionconfidence: HIGH
XSS in the web application context enables hijacking of authenticated user sessions via stolen cookies or tokens.
T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalationconfidence: MEDIUM
Successful session hijacking or privilege escalation within the GitLab instance can be leveraged for unauthorized elevation of access.
T1213 Data from Information Repositories Collectionconfidence: MEDIUM
Compromised user sessions can be used to access and exfiltrate sensitive project data stored in GitLab repositories or issues.
inferred from description + CWE · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2020-13340Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-0050Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2021-22242Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-0523Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-2015Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-1836Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-6033Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-2164Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2022-1190Same product: Gitlab Gitlab
CVE-2023-2442Same product: Gitlab Gitlab

Affected Assets

gitlab
gitlab
14.4.0 — 14.7.7 · 14.4.0 — 14.7.7 · 14.8.0 — 14.8.5

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SI-15 Information Output Filtering
  • SI-2 Flaw Remediation
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.1.2
  • V1.3.2

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

prevent

Directly requires validation and neutralization of untrusted input before it is rendered, which would have blocked the HTML injection into notes that enables this XSS flaw.

prevent

Mandates output filtering/encoding of user-supplied content, preventing the unsanitized HTML notes from executing as script in other users' browsers.

prevent

Requires timely installation of vendor patches that restore proper input handling, directly addressing the version-specific flaw in GitLab note rendering.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly target introduction of XSS via coding standards/testing (mostly), yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors unaddressed (partial).

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching and EOL replacement can remediate known XSS instances in libraries or frameworks (partial) but do nothing to enforce input neutralization in application code (none).

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

detects

Secure-coding testing and automated code-analysis tools are applied to detect improper neutralization of script-related content during web-page generation.

prevents

Knowledge exchange on emerging attack techniques and patches reduces the likelihood that cross-site scripting flaws remain unaddressed in deployed applications.

prevents

Operational indicators of compromise for web-application attacks can be incorporated into WAF or input-filtering rules, lowering the likelihood that unsanitized data reaches the browser.

prevents

Requiring language-specific secure-coding standards and automated scanning during the SDLC catches missing output encoding or improper neutralization of untrusted data before the software reaches production.

prevents

Secure-coding standards, SAST scans and removal of insecure code samples together eliminate the failure to neutralize script content that produces cross-site scripting flaws.

none

Webpage malware scanning and block-listing of known malicious sites reduce the likelihood that reflected or stored script payloads reach a user’s browser.

References