An issue was discovered in GitLab EE affecting all versions starting from 12.5 prior to 17.2.9, starting from 17.3, prior to 17.3.5, and starting from 17.4 prior to 17.4.2, which allows running pipelines on arbitrary branches.
https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/12/russia_is_targeting_you_for/