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 6.8th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection).
Deeper analysis
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).
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-4147
Vulnerability details
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…
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validation in API endpoints.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
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.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly enforces correct authorization decisions on API endpoints, blocking the unauthenticated requests that trigger the CWE-863 flaw.
Implements denial-of-service protection mechanisms that limit the impact of crafted requests exploiting the missing authorization checks.
Requires timely application of patches that correct the authorization validation errors in the affected GitLab API endpoints.