CVE-2026-0958
Published: 11 February 2026
Summary
CVE-2026-0958 is a high-severity Interpretation Conflict (CWE-436) vulnerability in Gitlab Gitlab. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Application or System Exploitation (T1499.004); ranked at the 11.3th 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 SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SC-6 (Resource Availability).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2026-0958 is a denial-of-service vulnerability in GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE), affecting all versions from 18.4 prior to 18.6.6, 18.7 prior to 18.7.4, and 18.8 prior to 18.8.4. The issue stems from a bypass of JSON validation middleware limits, enabling memory or CPU exhaustion. It 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) and is associated with CWE-436 (Interpretation Conflict).
An unauthenticated attacker with network access can exploit this vulnerability by sending crafted requests that evade the JSON size or complexity limits enforced by the middleware. Successful exploitation leads to resource exhaustion, causing denial of service through high memory or CPU usage on the affected GitLab instance, with no impact on confidentiality or integrity.
GitLab has remediated the vulnerability in patch releases, including GitLab 18.8.4, as detailed in the official release notes. Security practitioners should upgrade to GitLab 18.6.6, 18.7.4, or 18.8.4 or later versions. Additional details are available in the GitLab issue tracker (gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/586202) and the corresponding HackerOne disclosure (hackerone.com/reports/3463363).
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2026-7060
Vulnerability details
GitLab has remediated an issue in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 18.4 before 18.6.6, 18.7 before 18.7.4, and 18.8 before 18.8.4 that could have allowed an unauthenticated user to cause denial of service through memory or CPU exhaustion by…
more
bypassing JSON validation middleware limits.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Direct application-layer resource exhaustion via middleware bypass in a public-facing service.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly implements denial-of-service protections at system entry points to block resource exhaustion from crafted requests bypassing JSON limits.
Enforces validation of information inputs to prevent unauthenticated attackers from sending crafted JSON payloads that evade middleware limits.
Protects system resource availability against memory and CPU exhaustion attacks by prioritizing and limiting resource allocation.