CVE-2021-22205

GitLab Community and Enterprise Editions: Remote Code Execution

As of , CVE-2021-22205 in GitLab Community and Enterprise Editions is on CISA's list of exploited vulnerabilities: CISA listed it on . Our patch-first group: Patch this week.

Exploited
Yes: CISA listed it on 3 November 2021
US federal deadline
17 November 202114 days after CISA listed it. US federal civilian agencies must fix it by then.
Used in ransomware campaigns
KnownCISA changed it from Unknown to Known on 12 May 2025.
EPSS score
0.99Higher than 99% of the CVEs EPSS scores. EPSS estimates the chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days.
EPSS when listed
Not availableCISA listed it before 4 February 2022, where the EPSS files we read begin.
Public exploit
1 Metasploit module and 1 Exploit-DB entry
Fix
No vendor link in CISA's entry

What CISA says to do

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

CISA's required action

What the flaw is

GitHub Community and Enterprise Editions that utilize the ability to upload images through GitLab Workhorse are vulnerable to remote code execution. Workhorse passes image file extensions through ExifTool, which improperly validates the image files.

CISA's description

An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 11.9. GitLab was not properly validating image files that were passed to a file parser which resulted in a remote command execution.

The CVE record's description, from GitLab

CVE published
23 April 2021
Assigned by
GitLab
CVSS
10.0 Critical (CVSS 3.1, from the CNA)
CWE-94
Improper Control of Generation of Code ('Code Injection')
CWE-20
Improper Input Validation
CWE-95
Improper Neutralization of Directives in Dynamically Evaluated Code ('Eval Injection')
CISA SSVC, exploitation
active
CISA SSVC, automatable
yes
CISA SSVC, technical impact
total

Timeline

  1. The CVE record was published.
  2. CISA added it to its list of exploited vulnerabilities.
  3. Exploit-DB published an exploit (EDB-ID 50532).
  4. The US federal deadline to fix it.
  5. CISA changed its entry. Ransomware use: Unknown to Known.

Public exploits

Facts from Metasploit's module list and Exploit-DB's index; we never copy exploit code.

Community and Enterprise Editions: other exploited entries

VulnerabilityProductOur groupListedDeadlineEPSS
CVE-2021-39935Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF)GitLab Community and Enterprise EditionsPatch soon0.36

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