Unauthorized project access via unchecked request approval
Published Oct 27, 2025 · Updated Oct 27, 2025
Authorization bypass in GitLab EE 18.4 before 18.4.3 and 18.5 before 18.5.1 allows remote authenticated users to gain project access. The project access-request approval service creates direct project membership without enforcing the group's prohibition on adding non-group members. Exploitation requires a public project, the restriction enabled, a non-member's access request, and approval by a project Maintainer; the requester then joins the project despite lacking group membership.
Summary
What happened
Authorization bypass in GitLab EE 18.4 before 18.4.3 and 18.5 before 18.5.1 allows remote authenticated users to gain project access. The project access-request approval service creates direct project membership without enforcing the group's prohibition on adding non-group members. Exploitation requires a public project, the restriction enabled, a non-member's access request, and approval by a project Maintainer; the requester then joins the project despite lacking group membership.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2025-6601
- Published
- Oct 27, 2025
- Updated
- Oct 27, 2025
- Vendor
- GitLab
- Product
- GitLab
- Classifications
- CWE-840, T1098
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Oct 27, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Oct 27, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.
Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=18.4 <18.4.3
- Affected versionversion=18.5 <18.5.1
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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.
Public exploit references
- Access-request approval workflow proof of conceptproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
See the directory against your own environment.
Your stack
Check the software in your environment
Book a demo to see how Hinoki identifies affected software and validates exploitability in your environment.
Book a demo