CVE-2025-0362: GitLab CSRF Vulnerability

CVE-2025-0362 Overview

CVE-2025-0362 is a user interface (UI) misrepresentation vulnerability [CWE-1021] affecting GitLab Community Edition (CE) and Enterprise Edition (EE). The flaw affects all versions from 7.7 before 17.8.7, 17.9 before 17.9.6, and 17.10 before 17.10.4. Under specific conditions, an attacker can trick authenticated users into unintentionally authorizing sensitive actions on their behalf. The vulnerability requires user interaction and is exploitable over the network without prior authentication. GitLab addressed the issue in patched releases across the affected version branches.

Critical Impact
An attacker can leverage UI redressing to induce authenticated GitLab users into authorizing sensitive actions, compromising integrity of user accounts and repositories.

Affected Products

GitLab Community Edition (CE) versions 7.7 through 17.8.6
GitLab Enterprise Edition (EE) versions 17.9 through 17.9.5
GitLab CE/EE versions 17.10 through 17.10.3

Discovery Timeline

2025-04-10 - CVE-2025-0362 published to the National Vulnerability Database (NVD)
2026-06-17 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-0362

Vulnerability Analysis

CVE-2025-0362 is classified as an Improper Restriction of Rendered UI Layers or Frames [CWE-1021], commonly referred to as a clickjacking issue. GitLab pages responsible for sensitive actions can be rendered or manipulated in ways that permit an attacker-controlled overlay to intercept user interaction. When an authenticated user visits an attacker-controlled page, crafted UI elements can cause the user to trigger actions inside GitLab without awareness.

The impact is scoped to integrity, meaning attackers cannot directly read data or cause service disruption. However, they can force state-changing operations against repositories, tokens, permissions, or project settings depending on the targeted flow.

Root Cause

The root cause is insufficient enforcement of framing or interaction protections on sensitive GitLab endpoints. Without strict frame-ancestors policies or UI safeguards, attackers can embed or overlay GitLab content to obscure the actual action being authorized by the user.

Attack Vector

Exploitation requires network access to a GitLab instance and interaction from a logged-in victim. The attacker crafts a malicious page that leverages iframes, transparent overlays, or deceptive UI cues. When the victim clicks or interacts with the page, the input is routed to a legitimate GitLab action, authorizing it under the victim's session context.

No verified public exploit code is available. Technical details are documented in the GitLab Issue #512425 and the HackerOne Report #2926425.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-0362

Indicators of Compromise

Unexpected authorization events, token creations, or permission changes tied to legitimate user sessions.
Referrer headers in GitLab access logs pointing to unfamiliar external domains preceding sensitive actions.
User reports of unintended actions performed after visiting external links.

Detection Strategies

Review GitLab audit events for state-changing actions correlated with unusual referrers or short session interaction windows.
Monitor authentication and authorization logs for anomalies where sensitive actions immediately follow navigation from external sites.
Inspect HTTP response headers on GitLab endpoints to confirm that Content-Security-Policyframe-ancestors and X-Frame-Options directives are present and enforced.

Monitoring Recommendations

Enable and centralize GitLab audit event logging for administrative and authorization workflows.
Alert on newly created personal access tokens, deploy keys, or permission grants that occur without corresponding admin activity.
Track browser-based session activity for atypical navigation patterns preceding privileged GitLab actions.

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-0362

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade GitLab CE/EE to version 17.8.7, 17.9.6, or 17.10.4 or later based on the deployed branch.
Audit recent sensitive actions such as token creation, membership changes, and permission grants for unauthorized entries.
Notify users of the risk and advise avoiding clicks on untrusted external links while authenticated to GitLab.

Patch Information

GitLab released fixed versions 17.8.7, 17.9.6, and 17.10.4 that address the framing and UI redressing weakness. Administrators should follow the official upgrade path for their deployment method (Omnibus, Helm, source, or Docker). Refer to the GitLab Issue #512425 for release-specific guidance.

Workarounds

Enforce a strict Content-Security-Policy with frame-ancestors 'self' at the reverse proxy layer in front of GitLab.
Configure X-Frame-Options: DENY or SAMEORIGIN on GitLab responses if not already enforced by the application.
Restrict GitLab access to trusted networks or require VPN access until patching is complete.

bash

# Configuration example: enforce framing protections via NGINX in front of GitLab
add_header Content-Security-Policy "frame-ancestors 'self';" always;
add_header X-Frame-Options "SAMEORIGIN" always;