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There is no single log entry or universal test that proves a self-hosted GitLab AI Gateway was compromised. Treat suspected compromise as an incident: preserve the host and its logs first, correlate Gateway, GitLab, and infrastructure evidence, compare the deployment with an approved baseline, then contain and recover through your incident-response process.
Preserve evidence before changing the deployment
Before restarting containers, rotating keys, upgrading images, or rebuilding a host, record the suspected time window and affected Gateway host or Kubernetes namespace. Capture the deployed image tag and digest, relevant configuration changes, model endpoint, and GitLab version or Duo configuration. Preserve host state and existing logs in protected storage that an intruder on the affected system cannot alter. GitLab’s incident-response guidance specifically recommends saving server state and logs to a write-once location for later investigation.
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Keep a record of who collected each item, when it was collected, and where it is stored. Avoid cleanup steps that could destroy useful evidence until your incident lead determines what needs to be retained.
Identify which records exist in your setup
Do not assume every installation produces the same AI logs. For self-hosted models, GitLab documents that enabling data collection captures code-generation and GitLab Duo Chat events in llm.log; code-completion logs are captured in the AI Gateway and remain on the customer’s self-managed infrastructure. If data collection was not enabled, llm.log may not contain the events you expect. Check the deployment’s logging configuration and retention before interpreting gaps. See GitLab’s self-hosted model logging documentation.
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Inventory the records available for the incident window. Depending on your topology and configuration, these may include:
- GitLab request, application, and audit-event records.
- AI Gateway service or container logs, plus
llm.logif configured. - Reverse-proxy or load-balancer access logs and host or container-runtime logs.
- Kubernetes audit or control-plane records, if the Gateway runs on Kubernetes.
- Model-serving logs, firewall and DNS records, and an external log store or SIEM, if used.
Check timestamps, time zones, retention periods, and whether the records were forwarded off the Gateway host. A missing event may reflect configuration or retention rather than attacker activity.
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Look for unauthorized activity and deployment changes
Review GitLab audit activity and related records for changes that fall within the suspected window. Focus on unfamiliar users or credentials, token or key changes, pipeline activity, code changes, project or instance settings, and CI/CD changes. When an event points to a pipeline or project, inspect the related job logs and variables where relevant. GitLab’s incident guidance recommends reviewing audit events, processes, ports, and network logs; its audit-events documentation describes the records available for GitLab activity.
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On the Gateway host or cluster, compare the live deployment with an approved change record and known-good configuration. Investigate unrecognized processes, unexpected listening ports, altered manifests or environment variables, an unfamiliar image tag or digest, and inbound or outbound connections that do not match the service’s intended role. GitLab’s installation guidance describes required outbound access to GitLab, configured model-provider, and license-validation endpoints; an overly restrictive network policy can also break normal operation.
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Correlate findings across sources by time and identity. A new token followed by an unfamiliar pipeline and unusual egress is more meaningful than any one of those observations in isolation. Preserve the relevant records and compare them with approved deployments and changes before drawing conclusions.
Check authentication and connectivity without mistaking errors for proof
The self-hosted Gateway uses signed JWTs and configured signing and validation keys. Verify that the expected keys are present, access to them is controlled, and the service configuration has not changed unexpectedly. Confirm that AIGW_GITLAB_URL and the API URL are correct and that the Gateway can reach the configured GitLab instance. GitLab’s AI Gateway configuration and authentication documentation explains the token flow, while its troubleshooting guide covers reachability and authentication-related errors.
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JWT signature or missing-key errors can result from reachability, URL, proxy, or key-configuration problems. Test those possibilities and compare the error with other evidence; an authentication failure alone does not establish that someone altered the Gateway. Likewise, no expected entry in llm.log is not proof of compromise or proof that everything is normal.
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GitLab’s AI audit-event dashboard requires a self-managed AI Gateway to forward those events to the GitLab instance. Without forwarding, the dashboard does not record them. GitLab documents the feature as beta, so verify its availability and behavior for the installed version rather than treating the dashboard as a complete record of Gateway activity. Details are in Audit AI events.
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GitLab’s logging documentation lists general availability for self-hosted model logs starting with GitLab 17.9. That does not mean every event is logged by default: confirm the installed version, enabled data collection, forwarding, and retention before using the presence or absence of a record as evidence.
Contain and recover under your incident plan
If evidence supports unauthorized access, involve the organization’s incident lead and follow the established response process. Restrict access or network paths as appropriate while preserving evidence. Before revoking or rotating a credential, identify its owner, permissions, scope, and likely impact; review audit records for unauthorized use and note dependent services that may be affected.
GitLab recommends reviewing suspicious users and credentials, patching GitLab and its underlying host, and rebuilding a compromised server from a known-good backup or from scratch. For significant incidents, its guidance advises completing a preliminary investigation before contacting Support; assistance eligibility depends on license. Follow the applicable GitLab incident-response guidance alongside your organization’s procedures.
Improve visibility for the next investigation
Forward available logs and audit events to an independent, access-controlled destination so evidence is less exposed if the Gateway host is compromised. Where supported and appropriate, stream audit events to a SIEM. GitLab recommends independent log destinations and SIEM ingestion in its security incident guidance. Confirm which events your GitLab version and configuration can forward, and define retention and access controls for the receiving system.
For a self-hosted Gateway, log coverage depends on configuration, forwarding, retention, and topology. A useful investigation therefore combines the records that exist with host and network evidence, rather than relying on one dashboard or log file as a definitive verdict.
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