Support-bot impersonation via email substitutions
Published Jun 11, 2026 · Updated Jun 11, 2026
Improper substitution handling in GitLab allows remote attackers to inject content through crafted Service Desk email replies. Service Desk email template processing fails to neutralize substitution characters before rendering attacker-controlled text as GitLab Support Bot content. Affected releases are 15.9 before 18.10.8, 18.11 before 18.11.5, and 19.0 before 19.0.2; the reply must reach Service Desk and be rendered by a user.
Summary
What happened
Improper substitution handling in GitLab allows remote attackers to inject content through crafted Service Desk email replies. Service Desk email template processing fails to neutralize substitution characters before rendering attacker-controlled text as GitLab Support Bot content. Affected releases are 15.9 before 18.10.8, 18.11 before 18.11.5, and 19.0 before 19.0.2; the reply must reach Service Desk and be rendered by a user.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2026-9694
- Published
- Jun 11, 2026
- Updated
- Jun 11, 2026
- Vendor
- GitLab
- Product
- GitLab
- Classifications
- CWE-153, T1656
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 11, 2026CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Jun 11, 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=15.9 <18.10.8
- Affected versionversion=18.11 <18.11.5
- Affected versionversion=19.0 <19.0.2
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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