Allow creating protected branch when it doesn't exist

if user has either push or merge permissions

+ Change log entry for fix to creating a branch matching a wildcard fails

1 files changed, 3 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/lib/gitlab/user_access.rb b/lib/gitlab/user_access.rb
index 6c7e673fb9f..6ce9b229294 100644
--- a/lib/gitlab/user_access.rb
+++ b/lib/gitlab/user_access.rb
@@ -35,7 +35,9 @@ module Gitlab
         return true if project.empty_repo? && project.user_can_push_to_empty_repo?(user)
 
         access_levels = project.protected_branches.matching(ref).map(&:push_access_levels).flatten
-        access_levels.any? { |access_level| access_level.check_access(user) }
+        has_access = access_levels.any? { |access_level| access_level.check_access(user) }
+
+        has_access || !project.repository.branch_exists?(ref) && can_merge_to_branch?(ref)
       else
         user.can?(:push_code, project)
       end