When you use GitLab to manage your code, you expect your commits—every change to your project—to be safe, traceable, and exactly where you put them. But what if that trust could be manipulated? Enter CVE-2024-0231, a resource misdirection vulnerability that could send your commits somewhere else entirely. In this post, I’ll break down what it is, how it works, and even show a code snippet that illustrates the problem.

What is CVE-2024-0231?

Disclosed in June 2024, CVE-2024-0231 is a resource misdirection vulnerability in GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition. It affects:

17.2 < 17.2.1

If you’re running any version listed above, your system is at risk.

The Core Problem

When a user imports a repository, GitLab isn’t strict enough in verifying the import’s destination. A cleverly crafted import could misdirect commits—meaning code might end up in the wrong project, repository, or branch. This blurs the record of who did what and where.

How Does the Vulnerability Work?

Imagine an attacker wants their changes to end up in your repo, linked to your team, or simply buried where you won’t find them. By manipulating the repository import process, they can trick GitLab into placing their commits somewhere unintended.

Steps to Exploit

1. Attacker creates a malicious repository with a crafted .git/config or hooks.

Code Snippet: Simulating the Attack

Here’s a simplified example. In the real exploit, the attacker would take pains to synchronize branch names, remotes, or use weird Git references.

# Attacker prepares a repository with a sneaky remote
git init evil-repo
cd evil-repo
git remote add origin https://gitlab.example.com/victim/project.git

# Add commit
echo "malicious code" > backdoor.py
git add backdoor.py
git commit -m "Add backdoor"

# Push to attacker's remote as a different branch (not directly to victim)
git push origin master:refs/heads/fake-branch

# Attacker crafts a repo import archive (tar, zip, etc.)
cd ..
tar czf evil-repo.tar.gz evil-repo

# Attacker uploads via GitLab import feature
# If vulnerable, GitLab may misinterpret internal refs, misplacing commit

In a real-world scenario, the import process doesn’t always validate the mapping between original branches/remotes and the target, allowing for _misdirection_.

Auditing Nightmares: Tracking where a commit originated becomes much harder.

*Think about welcoming a guest into your house, only to find they rearranged your furniture while you weren’t paying attention.*

Upgrade Now!

- GitLab Security Release Blog (June 2024)
- Official CVE Page for CVE-2024-0231

Check your version using

gitlab-rake gitlab:env:info

Update instructions

GitLab Upgrading Guide

References

- GitLab Release Blog, June 2024
- GitLab Issue Tracker (security advisory)
- NVD: CVE-2024-0231

Conclusion

CVE-2024-0231 is a reminder that even trusted features like import/export can be risky. If an attacker exploits this, your audit trail, codebase, and trust could be at risk. Make sure you patch, stay vigilant, and control who can import repositories.

Timeline

Published on: 07/24/2024 23:15:09 UTC
Last modified on: 07/25/2024 13:39:35 UTC