Cyber Resilience

CVE-2022-2230

XSS in Gitlab 14.4.0 – 14.10.5

High EPSSXSS
Published
01 July 2022
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 8.1
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
EPSS Score 0.56 99th percentile
Risk Priority 80 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2022-2230 is a high-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Gitlab Gitlab. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, ranked in the top 1% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

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.

A stored cross-site scripting vulnerability exists in the project settings page of GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition. It affects all versions from 14.4 prior to 14.10.5, 15.0 prior to 15.0.4, and 15.1 prior to 15.1.1, and is tracked under CWE-79. The flaw permits an attacker to store arbitrary JavaScript that later executes in a victim's browser session.

An authenticated user with project settings privileges can inject the malicious payload, which then runs with the victim's permissions when the settings page is viewed. Successful exploitation can lead to theft of session tokens or other sensitive data and actions performed on the victim's behalf, consistent with the CVSS 8.1 rating reflecting high confidentiality and integrity impact across a changed scope.

References to GitLab's CVE repository, issue tracker, and the associated HackerOne report indicate that the issue is resolved by upgrading to the fixed releases listed in the advisory.

The EPSS score rose from a low starting value to a peak of 0.0659 on 2025-12-11 before receding to the current 0.0176, signaling that exploitation interest emerged after disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A Stored Cross-Site Scripting vulnerability in the project settings page in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 14.4 prior to 14.10.5, 15.0 prior to 15.0.4, and 15.1 prior to 15.1.1, allows an attacker to execute arbitrary JavaScript code in GitLab…

more

on a victim's behalf.

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 payload is delivered when a victim views the project settings page, enabling drive-by compromise via a trusted web application.
T1056.003 Web Portal Capture Collectionconfidence: HIGH
XSS executes in the victim's browser session and can capture web-portal credentials or session tokens.
T1185 Browser Session Hijacking Collectionconfidence: MEDIUM
Malicious script running in the authenticated victim's browser can hijack the active session to perform actions on the victim's behalf.
T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie Credential Accessconfidence: MEDIUM
Script can steal web session cookies or tokens stored by the browser for the GitLab application.
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-2022-1175Same product: Gitlab Gitlab

Affected Assets

gitlab
gitlab
15.1.0 · 14.4.0 — 14.10.5 · 14.4.0 — 14.10.5 · 15.0.0 — 15.0.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)
  • SI-10 Information Input Validation
  • SI-15 Information Output Filtering
  • SI-3 Malicious Code Protection
Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)
  • SI-3 Malicious Code Protection
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 of all inputs on the project settings page to reject or sanitize script payloads before storage.

prevent

Requires filtering of all rendered output from stored project settings so that injected JavaScript cannot execute in victim browsers.

preventdetect

Provides malicious-code detection and blocking mechanisms that can identify and stop execution of stored XSS payloads at the application boundary.

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