CVE-2021-22205

Exp

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.

Published: 2021-04-23 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2021-22205 is rated Critical Active Threat (100/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 99.73%, 100th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2021-11-03) affecting GitLab / Community and Enterprise Editions. a weakness (CWE-94) Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. EPSS rose +5.26% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2021-22205

Name: GitLab Community and Enterprise Editions Remote Code Execution Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2021-11-03

Action due: 2021-11-17

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2021-22205

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
50532 exploit_db edb 2021-11-17 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2021-22205

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 94.47% 99.73% +5.26%
2 2025-11-21 94.38% 94.47% +0.09%
3 2025-11-18 — 94.38% —

Full EPSS history (18 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2021-22205

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
10.0 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 6.0 [email protected]
10.0 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 6.0 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2021-22205

OS Trackers for CVE-2021-22205

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2021-22205 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (gitlab), 1 status rows across 1 suites (sid): resolved 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2021-22205
ubuntu medium CVE-2021-22205 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (gitlab), 13 status rows across 13 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 11, ignored 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2021-22205

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2021-22205

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gitlab gitlab >= 11.9.0, < 13.8.8 cpe:2.3:a:gitlab:gitlab:*:*:*:*:community:*:*:*
gitlab gitlab >= 11.9.0, < 13.8.8 cpe:2.3:a:gitlab:gitlab:*:*:*:*:enterprise:*:*:*
gitlab gitlab >= 13.9.0, < 13.9.6 cpe:2.3:a:gitlab:gitlab:*:*:*:*:community:*:*:*
gitlab gitlab >= 13.9.0, < 13.9.6 cpe:2.3:a:gitlab:gitlab:*:*:*:*:enterprise:*:*:*
gitlab gitlab >= 13.10.0, < 13.10.3 cpe:2.3:a:gitlab:gitlab:*:*:*:*:community:*:*:*
gitlab gitlab >= 13.10.0, < 13.10.3 cpe:2.3:a:gitlab:gitlab:*:*:*:*:enterprise:*:*:*

References for CVE-2021-22205

cvelogic Threat Intelligence