What is CVE-2021-22196?

CVE-2021-22196 is a medium-severity vulnerability in GitLab, classified under Cross-site Scripting. CVSS score: 6.3/10. Published 2021-04-02.

How severe is CVE-2021-22196?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.3 out of 10.

Is CVE-2021-22196 known to be exploited?

1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

XSS in GitLab

CVE-2021-22196

An issue has been discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 13.4. It was possible to exploit a stored cross-site-scripting in merge request via a specifically crafted branch name.

Vulnerability class: XSS (Cross-Site Scripting)

Published 2021-04-02 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.3 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.009 (59.4th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 59th percentile — 59.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.009 · newest: 0.009 · change: 0.000

Affected products

GitLab — versions >=13.4, <13.8.7, >=13.9, <13.9.5, >=13.10, <13.10.1

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-79 — Cross-site Scripting

Public proof-of-concept exploits

0xfschott/CVE-search

References

gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/254710 (Broken Link)
hackerone.com/reports/977697 (Permissions Required, Third Party Advisory)
gitlab.com/gitlab-org/cves/-/blob/master/2021/CVE-2021-22196.json (Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-22196?: CVE-2021-22196 is a medium-severity vulnerability in GitLab, classified under Cross-site Scripting. CVSS score: 6.3/10. Published 2021-04-02.
How severe is CVE-2021-22196?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.3 out of 10.
Is CVE-2021-22196 known to be exploited?: 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.