Auth bypass in GitLab

CVE-2026-16494

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.

Vulnerability class: Broken Access Control

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.1 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:L.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (34.2th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 34th percentile — 34.2% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2026-16494: held from 0.003 to 0.004.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.004 · change: +0.001

Affected products

  • GitLab — versions 19.1, 19.2

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2026-16494?
CVE-2026-16494 is a high-severity vulnerability in GitLab, classified under Missing Authorization. CVSS score: 7.1/10. Published 2026-08-12.
How severe is CVE-2026-16494?
High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.1 out of 10.