GitLab Patch Release: 18.8.11 | GitLab Docs (opens in new tab)
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: ```text /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.