Push to GitLab: ! [remote rejected] master -> master (pre-receive hook declined)

Attempted to push local repository to GitLab and got the following error:

Enumerating objects: 3, done.
Counting objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 220 bytes | 73.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
remote: /opt/gitlab/embedded/service/gitlab-shell/lib/gitlab_net.rb:153:in `parse_who': undefined method `start_with?' for nil:NilClass (NoMethodError)
remote:         from /opt/gitlab/embedded/service/gitlab-shell/lib/gitlab_net.rb:31:in `check_access'
remote:         from /opt/gitlab/embedded/service/gitlab-shell/lib/gitlab_access.rb:27:in `block in exec'
remote:         from /opt/gitlab/embedded/service/gitlab-shell/lib/gitlab_metrics.rb:50:in `measure'
remote:         from /opt/gitlab/embedded/service/gitlab-shell/lib/gitlab_access.rb:26:in `exec'
remote:         from hooks/pre-receive:30:in `<main>'
To <my_gitlab_server>:<path_to_repo>
! [remote rejected] master -> master (pre-receive hook declined)
error: failed to push some refs to 'git@<my_gitlab_server>:<path_to_repo>'

Using GitLab Community Edition version 11.4.0 installed on a Linux server and Git Bash version 2.19.1 64-bit for Windows.

I created a project in the GitLab UI and attempted a push from the local repository to this project, for which I have Maintainer status.

The error message looks like it has nothing to do with gitlab, but it is a pure git thing.

The pre-receive hook on the project found some error(s) and declined your push, if I remember correctly the lines with “remote:” are the output from the hooks (last time I experienced that, I had hit a bug in the hook (as well as in what I was trying to push) so I got absolutely nothing (of value)).

I think the most interesting part of the error is

in parse_who': undefined method start_with?’ for nil:NilClass (NoMethodError)

Here are some more details:

Initially, I created an empty repository in GitLab and cloned this to a local repository. Then, I made some changes in the local repository and attempted to push the changes to GitLab, which is when I got the error message above.

The local pre-receive hook is not in use (.sample), but the one being called is the default pre-receive hook placed by GitLab.

If you have more experience on how to read / interpret the error message, that would be helpful.

Thanks.

Update on this issue:

Downgraded to GitLab 9.5.9 and this issue is no longer present. It seems GitLab 11.4.0 and Git Bash 2.19.1 are not compatible in some way, but not sure yet if the problem resides on the GitLab side. If anyone has insight into this, please let me know.