Protected variable exposure via policy test scope bypass
Published Sep 16, 2026 · Updated Sep 16, 2026
Incorrect authorization in GitLab EE allows remote authenticated users with developer permissions to access protected CI/CD variables. The scheduled pipeline execution policy test lacks sufficient scope validation, so it runs against group projects with privileges beyond the developer role. A developer account and applicable group projects are required; exploitation can expose protected variables and execute policy test pipelines with higher-privileged access.
Summary
What happened
Incorrect authorization in GitLab EE allows remote authenticated users with developer permissions to access protected CI/CD variables. The scheduled pipeline execution policy test lacks sufficient scope validation, so it runs against group projects with privileges beyond the developer role. A developer account and applicable group projects are required; exploitation can expose protected variables and execute policy test pipelines with higher-privileged access.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-79708
- Published
- Sep 16, 2026
- Updated
- Sep 16, 2026
- Vendor
- GitLab
- Product
- GitLab
- Classifications
- T1078
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Sep 16, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Sep 16, 2026Record 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.
- Affected versionversion=19.0 <19.1.8
- Affected versionversion=19.2 <19.2.6
- Affected versionversion=19.3 <19.3.2
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.
Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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