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GitLab Patch Release: 18.8.11 | GitLab Docs (opens in new tab)

gitlabdatabase-migrationsruby-on-railsdatabase-load-balancingdatabase-connection-poolingomnibus

GitLab 18.8.11 is an out-of-band patch release for Community and Enterprise Editions, released July 1, 2026. It fixes a regression introduced by the Rails 7.2 upgrade that could cause database connections to leak when database load balancing is enabled. The release contains no security fixes or new migrations.

Database Connection Leak Fix

  • Resolves database connection leaks affecting installations that use database load balancing.
  • Intended to improve stability for customers upgrading to the required GitLab 18.8 stop.

Upgrade Considerations

  • No new database migrations are included.
  • Multi-node deployments should not require downtime.
  • Omnibus packages normally stop GitLab, run migrations, and restart during upgrades, regardless of upgrade size.
  • Administrators can disable this automatic reconfiguration for upgrades by creating:
    /etc/gitlab/skip-auto-reconfigure

Updating and Subscriptions

  • Administrators should follow GitLab’s update instructions to install 18.8.11.
  • Premium and Ultimate features require a paid subscription, while GitLab.com provides access to GitLab-hosted infrastructure.

Upgrade to 18.8.11 particularly if database load balancing is enabled, as it addresses a stability-related connection leak without introducing migration or downtime requirements.