CVE-2021-22205

Summary

CVE	CVE-2021-22205
State	PUBLISHED
Assigner	GitLab
Source Priority	CVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published	2021-04-23 18:15:08 UTC
Updated	2026-08-01 05:16:54 UTC
Description	An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 11.9. GitLab was not properly validating image files that were passed to a file parser which resulted in a remote command execution.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 10 CRITICAL from [email protected]

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS: 0.997310000 probability, percentile 0.999530000 (date 2026-08-04)

CISA KEV: Listed on 2021-11-03; due 2021-11-17; ransomware use Known

Problem Types: CWE-94 | Improper control of generation of code ('code injection') in GitLab | CWE-94 CWE-94 Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')

Version	Source	Type	Score	Severity	Vector
3.1	[email protected]	Primary	10	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`
3.1	[email protected]	Secondary	10	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`
3.1	CNA	DECLARED	10	CRITICAL	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`
2.0	[email protected]	Primary	7.5		`AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P`

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

High

Availability

High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVSS v2.0 Breakdown

Access Vector

Network

Access Complexity

Low

Authentication

None

Confidentiality

Partial

Integrity

Partial

Availability

Partial

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

Vendor	GitLab
Product	Community and Enterprise Editions
Name	GitLab Community and Enterprise Editions Remote Code Execution Vulnerability
Required Action	Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Notes	https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2021-22205

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

Type	Vendor	Product	Version	Update	Edition	Language
Application	Gitlab	Gitlab	All	All	All	All
Application	Gitlab	Gitlab	All	All	All	All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

Source	Vendor	Product	Version	Platforms
CNA	GitLab	GitLab	affected >=11.9, <13.8.8	Not specified
CNA	GitLab	GitLab	affected >=13.9, <13.9.6	Not specified
CNA	GitLab	GitLab	affected >=13.10, <13.10.3	Not specified

References

Reference	Source	Link	Tags
HackerOne	af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108	hackerone.com	Permissions Required, Third Party Advisory
2021/CVE-2021-22205.json · master · GitLab.org / cves · GitLab	af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108	gitlab.com	Vendor Advisory
GitLab Unauthenticated Remote ExifTool Command Injection ≈ Packet Storm	af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108	packetstormsecurity.com	Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
Not Found	af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108	gitlab.com	Broken Link
www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog	134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0	www.cisa.gov	US Government Resource
GitLab 13.10.2 Remote Code Execution ≈ Packet Storm	af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108	packetstormsecurity.com	Exploit, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
CVE Program record	CVE.ORG	www.cve.org	canonical
NVD vulnerability detail	NVD	nvd.nist.gov	canonical, analysis
CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog	CISA	www.cisa.gov	kev

Vendor Comments And Credit

Discovery Credit

CNA: Thanks vakzz for reporting this vulnerability through our HackerOne bug bounty program (en)

Additional Advisory Data

Source	Time	Event
ADP	2021-11-03T00:00:00.000Z	CVE-2021-22205 added to CISA KEV

Legacy QID Mappings

375475 GitLab Multiple Security Vulnerabilities(gitlab- 13-10-3)