An issue was discovered in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions starting from 16.4 prior to 17.5.5, starting from 17.6 prior to 17.6.3, and starting from 17.7 prior to 17.7.1. When a user is created via the SAML provider, the external groups setting overrides the external provider configuration. As a result, the user may not be marked as external thereby giving those users access to internal projects or groups.