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CI/CD - Gitlab CI

GitLab CI (Continuous Integration) is a built-in feature of GitLab that automates the process of building, testing, and deploying your code every time you make a change. It's part of GitLab CI/CD, which stands for Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment.

Gitlab Runners

sudo apt-get install gitlab-runner
sudo gitlab-runner register
Prompt Example Input
GitLab instance URL https://gitlab.com/
Registration token Found in your project under Settings > CI/CD > Runners
Executor shell, docker, etc.
Description my-remote-runner
Tags remote

The .gitlab-ci.yml file is the configuration file that GitLab CI/CD uses to define your pipelines, jobs, and stages.

Command Execution Jobs

Gitlab-CI "Command Execution" example: .gitlab-ci.yml

stages:
    - test

test:
    stage: test
    script:
        - |
            whoami
    parallel:
        matrix:
            - RUNNER: VM1
            - RUNNER: VM2
            - RUNNER: VM3
    tags:
        - ${RUNNER}

List GitLab Runners

List all GitLab runners available to the current user in GitLab.

SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m listrunner -c userName:password -u https://gitlab.something.local
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m listrunner -c apikey -u https://gitlab.something.local

Gitlab Executors

  • Shell executor: The jobs are run with the permissions of the GitLab Runner’s user and can steal code from other projects that are run on this server.
  • Docker executor: Docker can be considered safe when running in non-privileged mode.
  • SSH executor: SSH executors are susceptible to MITM attack (man-in-the-middle), because of missing StrictHostKeyChecking option.

Gitlab CI/CD Variables

CI/CD Variables are a convenient way to store and use data in a CI/CD pipeline, but variables are less secure than secrets management providers.

Persistence

Personal Access Token

Create a PAT (Personal Access Token) as a persistence mechanism for the Gitlab instance.

  • Manual

    curl -k --request POST --header "PRIVATE-TOKEN: apiToken" --data "name=user-persistence-token" --data "expires_at=" --data "scopes[]=api" --data "scopes[]=read_repository" --data "scopes[]=write_repository" "https://gitlabHost/api/v4/users/UserIDNumber/personal_access_tokens"

  • Using SCMKit.exe: Create/List/Delete an access token to be used in a particular SCM system

    SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m createpat -c userName:password -u https://gitlab.something.local -o targetUserName
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m createpat -c apikey -u https://gitlab.something.local -o targetUserName
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m removepat -c userName:password -u https://gitlab.something.local -o patID
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m listpat -c userName:password -u https://gitlab.something.local -o targetUser
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m listpat -c apikey -u https://gitlab.something.local -o targetUser

  • Get the assigned privileges to an access token being used in a particular SCM system

    SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m privs -c apiKey -u https://gitlab.something.local

SSH Keys

  • Create/List an SSH key to be used in a particular SCM system

    SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m createsshkey -c userName:password -u https://gitlab.something.local -o "ssh public key"
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m createsshkey -c apiToken -u https://gitlab.something.local -o "ssh public key"
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m listsshkey -c userName:password -u https://github.something.local
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m listsshkey -c apiToken -u https://github.something.local
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m removesshkey -c userName:password -u https://gitlab.something.local -o sshKeyID
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m removesshkey -c apiToken -u https://gitlab.something.local -o sshKeyID

User Promotion

  • Promote a normal user to an administrative role in a particular SCM system

    SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m addadmin -c userName:password -u https://gitlab.something.local -o targetUserName
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m addadmin -c apikey -u https://gitlab.something.local -o targetUserName
SCMKit.exe -s gitlab -m removeadmin -c userName:password -u https://gitlab.something.local -o targetUserName

References