CVE-2026-16494: Missing Authorization in GitLab

Severity: high (CVSS 7.1 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.4% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-08-12 · updated 2026-08-19
Weakness: CWE-862

Description

GitLab has remediated an issue in GitLab EE affecting all versions from 19.1 before 19.1.4 and 19.2 before 19.2.2 that under certain conditions could have allowed an authenticated user to modify project settings restricted to higher-privileged roles, due to missing authorization checks on a project update endpoint.

Affected products

GitLab: from 19.1.0 before 19.1.4; from 19.2.0 before 19.2.2 — fixed in 19.1.4, 19.2.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: GitLab 19.1.4, 19.2.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://docs.gitlab.com/releases/patches/patch-release-gitlab-19-2-2-released/
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/work_items/606580
https://hackerone.com/reports/3775445

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