CVE-2025-13928
Published: 22 January 2026
Summary
CVE-2025-13928 is a high-severity Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) vulnerability in Gitlab Gitlab. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 1.6th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
Threat & Defense at a Glance
Threat & Defense Details
Likely Mitigating ControlsAI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Periodic review and update of procedures reduces incorrect authorization implementations over time.
Supervision identifies cases where authorization logic incorrectly permits unauthorized actions.
Defining permitted attribute values and auditing modifications reduces the chance of incorrect authorization outcomes due to tampered or missing labels.
The authorization process and usage restrictions help prevent incorrect authorization for remote access types.
Establishing configuration and connection requirements helps ensure correct rather than incorrect authorization for wireless access.
Establishing connection authorization processes for mobile devices helps ensure authorization decisions are correctly implemented rather than incorrect.
Monitoring account use, notifying on changes, and reviewing accounts for compliance corrects incorrect authorization assignments.
Ensures authorization decisions for external system use are correctly implemented and enforced.
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Unauthenticated network exploitation of public GitLab API endpoints (incorrect authz) directly enables T1190 for initial access and T1499.004 for resulting application DoS via crafted requests.
NVD Description
GitLab has remediated an issue in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 17.7 before 18.6.4, 18.7 before 18.7.2, and 18.8 before 18.8.2 that could have allowed an unauthenticated user to cause a denial of service condition by exploiting incorrect authorization…
more
validation in API endpoints.
Deeper analysisAI
CVE-2025-13928 is a denial-of-service vulnerability in GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE), stemming from incorrect authorization validation in API endpoints (CWE-863). It affects all versions from 17.7 prior to 18.6.4, 18.7 prior to 18.7.2, and 18.8 prior to 18.8.2. The issue has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H), indicating high severity due to its network accessibility and lack of prerequisites.
An unauthenticated attacker can exploit this vulnerability over the network with low complexity, sending crafted requests to vulnerable API endpoints. Successful exploitation results in a denial-of-service condition, disrupting service availability without impacting confidentiality or integrity.
GitLab has remediated the issue through patch releases, including GitLab 18.8.2, as detailed in their release notes. Security practitioners should upgrade affected instances to one of the fixed versions (18.6.4, 18.7.2, or 18.8.2). Additional details are available in the GitLab issue tracker (gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/582736) and the originating HackerOne report (hackerone.com/reports/3439441).
Details
- CWE(s)