GitLab has remediated an issue in GitLab CE/EE affecting all versions from 1.0 before 18.7.6, 18.8 before 18.8.6, and 18.9 before 18.9.2 that could have allowed an authenticated user to cause repository downloads to contain different code than displayed in the web interface due to incorrect validation of branch references under certain circumstances.
https://about.gitlab.com/releases/2026/03/11/patch-release-gitlab-18-9-2-released/