CVE-2024-7110: GitLab EE RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2024-7110 Overview

A command injection vulnerability has been discovered in GitLab Enterprise Edition (EE) that enables attackers to execute arbitrary commands within a victim's pipeline through prompt injection. This vulnerability affects GitLab EE versions starting from 17.0, allowing authenticated attackers to potentially compromise CI/CD pipelines and execute malicious commands in the context of the victim's environment.

Critical Impact

Attackers with low privileges can inject malicious prompts to execute arbitrary commands in victim pipelines, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive data, code repositories, and deployment infrastructure.

Affected Products

• GitLab Enterprise Edition versions 17.0 to 17.1.6
• GitLab Enterprise Edition versions 17.2 prior to 17.2.4
• GitLab Enterprise Edition versions 17.3 prior to 17.3.1

Discovery Timeline

• 2024-08-22 - CVE-2024-7110 published to NVD
• 2024-09-11 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2024-7110

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability is classified as CWE-77 (Command Injection), which occurs when an application constructs commands using externally-influenced input without proper neutralization of special elements. In this case, the vulnerability manifests through a prompt injection attack vector within GitLab's pipeline functionality.

The attack requires network access and user interaction, meaning an attacker must craft a malicious prompt that gets processed by a victim's pipeline. The successful exploitation can lead to high impact on both confidentiality and integrity, as the attacker can execute arbitrary commands within the pipeline context.

Root Cause

The root cause lies in insufficient input validation and sanitization of user-controlled data that gets processed by GitLab's pipeline execution engine. When prompts or inputs are passed to the pipeline without proper neutralization, special command characters or injection payloads can escape the intended context and execute as shell commands.

This represents a classic command injection pattern where the application fails to properly separate code from data, allowing attacker-controlled input to be interpreted as executable commands within the pipeline's execution environment.

Attack Vector

The attack is conducted over the network and requires the attacker to have low-level privileges (authenticated access to GitLab). The attack also requires user interaction, suggesting the attacker must convince a victim to trigger a pipeline that processes the malicious prompt.

The prompt injection technique allows the attacker to embed malicious commands within seemingly benign input. When this input is processed by the pipeline without proper sanitization, the injected commands execute within the victim's pipeline context, potentially exposing secrets, credentials, and allowing lateral movement within the CI/CD infrastructure.

For detailed technical information about this vulnerability, refer to the GitLab Issue Discussion.

Detection Methods for CVE-2024-7110

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual or unexpected commands appearing in pipeline execution logs
• Pipeline jobs executing commands that were not defined in the original .gitlab-ci.yml configuration
• Unexpected data exfiltration attempts from pipeline execution environments
• Anomalous network connections originating from CI/CD runners

Detection Strategies

• Monitor pipeline execution logs for command sequences that deviate from expected patterns
• Implement strict input validation policies for any user-controllable data that interacts with pipelines
• Review audit logs for suspicious pipeline modifications or executions by users with unexpected access patterns
• Deploy runtime security monitoring on CI/CD runners to detect command injection attempts

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive audit logging for all pipeline-related activities in GitLab
• Set up alerts for pipeline failures or anomalous execution patterns
• Monitor for unauthorized access to pipeline artifacts or secrets
• Implement network traffic analysis on CI/CD runner infrastructure to detect suspicious outbound connections

How to Mitigate CVE-2024-7110

Immediate Actions Required

• Upgrade GitLab EE to version 17.1.7, 17.2.4, or 17.3.1 or later immediately
• Audit recent pipeline executions for signs of command injection or unauthorized command execution
• Review and restrict access to pipeline configurations and sensitive CI/CD variables
• Implement additional input validation for any custom integrations that feed data into pipelines

Patch Information

GitLab has released security patches addressing this vulnerability. Organizations should upgrade to the following fixed versions:

• GitLab EE 17.1.7 or later for the 17.1.x branch
• GitLab EE 17.2.4 or later for the 17.2.x branch
• GitLab EE 17.3.1 or later for the 17.3.x branch

For additional details and discussion, see the GitLab Issue Discussion.

Workarounds

• Restrict pipeline execution permissions to trusted users only until patches are applied
• Implement additional security controls at the runner level to limit command execution capabilities
• Review and harden CI/CD configurations to minimize the attack surface for prompt injection
• Consider disabling or restricting features that allow user-controlled input to influence pipeline execution

# Example: Restrict runner access and enforce protected branches
# In your gitlab-ci.yml, use protected variables and branches
variables:
  SECURE_MODE: "true"
  
# Ensure sensitive jobs only run on protected branches
deploy_production:
  script:
    - echo "Deploying to production"
  only:
    - main
  tags:
    - protected-runner