Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Certain GitLab CE/EE versions did not properly enforce personal access token scopes for GraphQL subscriptions. A logged-in user could potentially receive information that their token scope should not allow. The issue is medium severity because it affects confidentiality only and requires prior access.
Executive priority
Treat this as a targeted confidentiality control issue, not an emergency outage risk. Upgrade during the next security maintenance window, sooner for shared or internet-accessible GitLab environments with many users or sensitive projects.
Technical view
CVE-2024-4006 is a CWE-863 incorrect authorization flaw in GitLab CE/EE. Affected ranges are 16.7 before 16.9.6, 16.10 before 16.10.4, and 16.11 before 16.11.1. GraphQL subscriptions did not honor personal access scopes, creating limited unauthorized data exposure risk.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to organizations running affected GitLab CE/EE versions and using personal access tokens with GraphQL subscription access paths. Systems already upgraded to 16.9.6, 16.10.4, 16.11.1, or later are outside the stated vulnerable ranges.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not report active exploitation, and the CVE is not marked in KEV. The CVSS vector indicates network access, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, and low confidentiality impact only.
Researcher notes
The key exposure question is whether affected GitLab versions allowed GraphQL subscription data beyond the intended personal access token scope. Public evidence in the supplied bundle is concise, so avoid assuming broader authorization bypass behavior without vendor detail.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade GitLab CE/EE to 16.9.6, 16.10.4, 16.11.1, or later.
- Check GitLab guidance and issue 455805 for any environment-specific instructions.
- Review personal access token scope usage and remove unnecessary tokens.
- Prioritize internet-accessible or broadly user-accessible GitLab instances first.
Validation and detection
- Inventory GitLab CE/EE versions across production and non-production systems.
- Confirm no instance remains in the listed vulnerable version ranges.
- Review audit evidence for unusual GraphQL subscription activity where available.
- Verify personal access token scopes are still business-justified after upgrade.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-863: Authorization and privilege behavior lookup
Authorization weaknesses can support privilege escalation and valid-account review, depending on exploit path. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2024-4006 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 4.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
SSVC decision data
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N2.81.4GitLabVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
4.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
Vulnerability timeline
Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.
- CVE reservedCVE Program
The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.
- CVE publishedCVE Program
The CVE record was published.
- CVE updatedCVE Program
The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.
ADP provider summaries
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- GitLab Issue #455805CVE reference, GitLab · issue-tracking
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Incorrect Authorization
Incorrect Authorization represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.