CVE-2012-6074 in Jenkins
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in CloudBees Jenkins before 1.491, Jenkins LTS before 1.480.1, and Jenkins Enterprise 1.424.x before 1.424.6.13, 1.447.x before 1.447.4.1, and 1.466.x before 1.466.10.1 allows remote authenticated users with write access to inject arbitrary web script or HTML via unspecified vectors.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/29/2021
The CVE-2012-6074 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site scripting flaw affecting multiple versions of CloudBees Jenkins continuous integration platform. This vulnerability specifically targets the web application interface of Jenkins, creating a security risk that can be exploited by authenticated users who possess write permissions within the system. The flaw exists in the handling of user-supplied input within the web application's response processing mechanisms, allowing malicious actors to inject arbitrary web scripts or HTML content that executes in the context of other users' browsers. The vulnerability affects both the standard Jenkins releases and the long-term support versions, as well as the enterprise variants, indicating a widespread impact across the product lineage.
The technical implementation of this XSS vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and output encoding within Jenkins's web interface components. When authenticated users with write access submit content that contains malicious script code, the system fails to properly sanitize this input before rendering it in web pages. This allows the injected scripts to execute in the browser context of other users who view the affected pages, potentially leading to session hijacking, credential theft, or arbitrary code execution within the victim's browser environment. The vulnerability's impact is particularly concerning because it requires only write access, which many developers and administrators possess, making exploitation relatively accessible within compromised environments.
From an operational perspective, this vulnerability creates significant risks for organizations relying on Jenkins for continuous integration and deployment processes. The ability for authenticated users to inject malicious scripts means that compromised accounts or insider threats could leverage this weakness to gain further access to the build environment or steal sensitive information from other users. Attackers could potentially execute scripts that steal session cookies, redirect users to malicious sites, or manipulate build results. The vulnerability's presence across multiple Jenkins versions including LTS releases indicates that organizations with long-term support requirements were particularly at risk, as these versions typically receive extended support periods and are often used in production environments where security is paramount.
The security implications of this vulnerability align with CWE-79, which specifically addresses cross-site scripting flaws in web applications, and can be mapped to ATT&CK technique T1059.007 for script execution and T1566 for credential access. Organizations should implement immediate mitigations including applying the relevant security patches to upgrade to versions 1.491, 1.480.1, or the appropriate enterprise release versions that contain the fix. Additionally, implementing proper input validation at the application level, enforcing strict output encoding for all user-supplied content, and conducting regular security assessments of web applications can help prevent similar vulnerabilities. Network segmentation and monitoring for suspicious activities within Jenkins environments can also serve as additional defensive measures to detect and prevent exploitation attempts.