GitLab extends Omnibus package signing key expiration to 2025

Note: The Omnibus package signing key is separate from the Access Token Expiry affecting users of GitLab 16.0 and above. For more information about Access Token Expiry, please see our blog on the topic.

GitLab uses a GNU Privacy Guard (GPG) key to sign all Omnibus packages created within the CI pipelines to ensure that the packages have not been tampered with. This key is separate from the repository metadata signing key used by package managers and the GPG signing key for the GitLab Runner. The Omnibus package signing key, which is set to expire on July 1, 2024, will be extended to expire on July 1, 2025.

Why are we extending the deadline?

The Omnibus package signing key’s expiration is extended each year to comply with GitLab security policies and to limit the exposure should the key become compromised. The key’s expiration is extended instead of rotating to a new key to be less disruptive for users who do verify package integrity checks prior to installing the package.

What do I need to do?

The only action that needs to be taken is to update your copy of the package signing key if you validate the signatures on the Omnibus packages that GitLab distributes.

The package signing key is not the key that signs the repository metadata used by the OS package managers like apt or yum. Unless you are specifically verifying the package signatures or have configured your package manager to verify the package signatures, there is no action needed on your part to continue installing Omnibus packages.

More information concerning verification of the package signatures is available in the Omnibus documentation. If you just need to refresh a copy of the public key, then you can find it on any of the GPG keyservers by searching for [email protected] or using the key ID of
DBEF 8977 4DDB 9EB3 7D9F C3A0 3CFC F9BA F27E AB47.

Alternatively, you could download it directly from packages.gitlab.com using the URL: https://packages.gitlab.com/gitlab/gitlab-ce/gpgkey/gitlab-gitlab-ce-3D645A26AB9FBD22.pub.gpg.

What do I do if I still have problems?

Please open an issue in the omnibus-gitlab issue tracker.