How severe is CVE-2021-22205?

CVE-2021-22205 has a CVSS score of 10/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2021-22205?

Affected package information for CVE-2021-22205 is not yet fully mapped. Check the official advisory links for details.

How do I fix CVE-2021-22205?

No fixed version has been published for CVE-2021-22205 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates, apply mitigations recommended by the vendor, and use O3 Security to track when a fix becomes available in your stack.

Is CVE-2021-22205 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 36 known exploit references for CVE-2021-22205, including 1 documented proof-of-concept exploit on Exploit-DB and 22 in-the-wild exploitations observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2021-22205?

CVE-2021-22205 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 94.5%, placing it in the 100th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Is CVE-2021-22205 in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog?

Yes. CVE-2021-22205 (GitLab Community and Enterprise Editions Remote Code Execution Vulnerability) was added to CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 2021-11-03. CISA required all US federal civilian agencies to remediate this vulnerability by 2021-11-17. The required action was: Apply updates per vendor instructions. This CVE has been used in known ransomware campaigns. Being listed in the KEV catalog is the strongest possible confirmation of active exploitation — treat this as a critical priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2021-22205?

CVE-2021-22205 is classified as Code Injection (CWE-94). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

Is there exploit tooling available for CVE-2021-22205?

A Nuclei detection template exists for CVE-2021-22205, meaning automated scanners can fingerprint it. Public exploit tooling significantly increases real-world risk — prioritize patching and ensure detection coverage. Exploit tooling should only ever be used in isolated, authorized testing environments.

When was CVE-2021-22205 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2021-22205 was published on April 23, 2021 and was last updated on April 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CISA KEV·Added 2021-11-03 — agencies required to remediate by 2021-11-17 · Ransomware

CVE-2021-22205

CRITICAL

Also known asBIT-gitlab-2021-22205

Published

Apr 23, 2021

Updated

Apr 10, 2026

Affected

0 pkgs

Patched

None yet

Exploits

36 known

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

94.5%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk100th percentile0.00%

EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.

Description

An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 11.9. GitLab was not properly validating image files that were passed to a file parser which resulted in a remote command execution.

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

EDB-50532webappsruby

GitLab 13.10.2 - Remote Code Execution (RCE) (Unauthenticated)

by Jacob Baines · Nov 17, 2021

Exploit-DB Source

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2021-22205 in your stack?

O3 detects CVE-2021-22205 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

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