Skip to main content
Mallory
Back to vulnerabilities
High

Improper authorization in GitLab EE Group SAML identity management leading to account takeover

IdentifiersCVE-2026-6552CWE-639· Authorization Bypass Through…

CVE-2026-6552 is a high-severity improper authorization vulnerability in GitLab Enterprise Edition (EE) affecting the Group SAML identity management functionality, including the Group SAML Identity API. GitLab states that, under certain conditions, an authenticated user with the group Owner role could take over another member’s GitLab account. The issue affects GitLab EE versions 15.5 through before 18.10.8, 18.11 through before 18.11.5, and 19.0 through before 19.0.2. Available supporting content attributes the flaw to improper authorization and maps it to CWE-639.

Share:
For your environment

Are you exposed to this one?

Mallory correlates every CVE against your assets, your vendors, and active adversary campaigns. Know which vulnerabilities matter for you, not just which ones are loud.

Start free trial
ANALYST BRIEF

Impact, mitigation & remediation

What it means. What to do now. Patch path, mitigations, and the assume-compromise checklist.

Impact

What an attacker gets, and what they’ve been doing with it.

Successful exploitation can result in takeover of another group member’s GitLab account by an authenticated attacker who already holds the Owner role in the affected group. This yields high confidentiality and integrity impact, as reflected in the provided CVSS v3.1 vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:N. The attacker could act as the victim user within GitLab, gaining access to that user’s data and performing actions in their name. No direct availability impact is indicated in the provided material.

Mitigation

If you can’t patch tonight, do this now.

If immediate patching is not possible, reduce exposure by tightly restricting assignment of the group Owner role, especially in groups using Group SAML identity management, and review membership and SAML identity-management activity for abuse. Limit administrative and owner-level access to trusted personnel only. However, no complete mitigation short of upgrading is provided in the available content.

Remediation

Patch, then assume compromise.

Upgrade GitLab EE to a fixed release: 18.10.8, 18.11.5, or 19.0.2 or later, depending on the current upgrade track. GitLab strongly recommended that all self-managed installations running affected versions upgrade immediately. The provided content notes that the patch release includes database migrations that may cause downtime on single-node instances; multi-node deployments should follow GitLab’s zero-downtime upgrade procedures where applicable.
PUBLIC EXPLOITS

Exploits

No public exploits tracked yet. Mallory keeps watching.

VALID 0 / 0 TOTALView more in app

No public exploit code observed for this vulnerability.

ACTIVITY FEED

Recent activity

8 sources tracked across advisories, community write-ups, and news. New activity surfaces here as Mallory finds it.

8 SOURCESView more in app
security online infoNews
Jun 11, 2026
GitLab Security Updates: Critical Flaws Patched in 19.0.2

Improper access control vulnerability in GitLab's Group SAML Identity API that could allow a group owner to take over another group member’s GitLab account.

Read more
cvefeed high severityNews
Jun 11, 2026
CVE-2026-6552 - Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key in GitLab

An improper authorization vulnerability in GitLab EE Group SAML identity management that could allow an authenticated user with the group Owner role to take over another group member's GitLab account.

Read more
docs gitlabNews
Oct 1, 2018
GitLab Patch Release: 19.0.2, 18.11.5, 18.10.8 | GitLab Docs

Improper access control vulnerability in GitLab EE Group SAML Identity API that could allow an authenticated group Owner to take over another group member’s GitLab account.

Read more
What this page doesn’t show

The version that knows your environment.

This page is what’s public. Mallory adds the parts that aren’t: which of your assets are affected, which adversaries are exploiting it right now, which detections to deploy, and what to do tonight.
Start free trial
Exposure mapping

Query your assets running an affected version, and investigate the blast radius.

Threat actor evidence

Every observed campaign linking this CVE to a named adversary.

Associated malware

Malware families riding this exploit, with evidence and IOCs.

Detection signatures

YARA, Sigma, Snort, and vendor rules, auto-deployed to your SIEM.

Vendor-by-vendor mapping

Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.

Social activity5

Community discussion across Reddit, Mastodon, and other social sources.

EXTERNAL REFERENCES
MITRE CVE
cve.org · CVE-2026-6552
NVD
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-6552
MITRE CWE · CWE-639
Authorization Bypass Through User-Controlled Key
Release Notes
about.gitlab.com/releases/2026/06/10/patch-release-gitlab-19-0-2-released
Issue Tracking
gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/work_items/597295
Permissions Required
hackerone.com/reports/3655189