CVE-2025-10868Network attack vector

Authenticated service degradation via regex string scans

Published Sep 26, 2025 · Updated Sep 26, 2025

Denial of service in affected GitLab CE/EE releases allows remote authenticated users to slow the service through large string inputs. The HandleMalformedStrings middleware copies and force-encodes request strings before applying regex matching, causing excessive CPU and memory use on large inputs. A low-privileged account and user interaction are required; affected releases are 17.4 through 18.2.6, 18.3 through 18.3.2, and 18.4.0, with no reported data exposure or modification.

CVSS severity3.5
Low
EPSS probability0.26%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in affected GitLab CE/EE releases allows remote authenticated users to slow the service through large string inputs. The HandleMalformedStrings middleware copies and force-encodes request strings before applying regex matching, causing excessive CPU and memory use on large inputs. A low-privileged account and user interaction are required; affected releases are 17.4 through 18.2.6, 18.3 through 18.3.2, and 18.4.0, with no reported data exposure or modification.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-10868
Published
Sep 26, 2025
Updated
Sep 26, 2025
Vendor
GitLab
Product
GitLab
Classifications
CWE-840, T1499.004
Attack vector
network
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 26, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 26, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=17.4 <18.2.7
  2. Affected versionversion=18.3 <18.3.3
  3. Affected versionversion=18.4 <18.4.1

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

GitLab · GitLabversion=17.4 <18.2.7; version=18.3 <18.3.3; version=18.4 <18.4.1

Published CVSS scores

5.3NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
3.5GitLab Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-840Business Logic Errors
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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