CVE-2014-2066 in Jenkins
Summary
by MITRE
Session fixation vulnerability in CloudBees Jenkins before 1.551 and LTS before 1.532.2 allows remote attackers to hijack web sessions via vectors involving the "override" of Jenkins cookies.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/30/2022
The CVE-2014-2066 vulnerability represents a critical session fixation flaw in CloudBees Jenkins prior to version 1.551 and LTS 1.532.2, exposing systems to remote session hijacking attacks. This vulnerability specifically targets the authentication cookie handling mechanism within Jenkins, creating a pathway for attackers to exploit the session management system. The flaw allows remote adversaries to manipulate the session identifier through cookie override techniques, effectively enabling them to take control of user sessions without requiring valid credentials.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate session management practices within Jenkins authentication flows. When users authenticate to the Jenkins system, the application generates session cookies that should be unique and unpredictable. However, the flaw allows attackers to set or manipulate these cookies in a way that maintains the same session identifier across authentication attempts. This creates a scenario where an attacker can establish a session with a known session ID and then convince a victim to use that same session ID, effectively hijacking the victim's authenticated session.
From an operational impact perspective, this vulnerability poses significant security risks to organizations relying on Jenkins for continuous integration and deployment operations. Attackers exploiting this flaw can gain unauthorized access to Jenkins administrators' privileges, potentially leading to code injection, build system compromise, and unauthorized access to sensitive source code repositories. The vulnerability affects not only individual user sessions but also automated build processes that may be running with elevated privileges, creating cascading security implications throughout the development pipeline.
The vulnerability aligns with CWE-384, which addresses session fixation issues in web applications, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1563.002 related to credential access through session hijacking. Organizations using Jenkins versions prior to the patched releases face substantial risk of unauthorized access to their CI/CD infrastructure, potentially enabling attackers to modify build scripts, inject malicious code into the build process, or gain access to production deployment systems.
Mitigation strategies should prioritize immediate upgrade to Jenkins versions 1.551 or LTS 1.532.2, which contain the necessary patches to address the session fixation vulnerability. Additionally, organizations should implement proper cookie security settings including secure flags, HttpOnly attributes, and SameSite directives to strengthen session cookie protection. Network-level monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual cookie manipulation patterns, and regular security audits of authentication mechanisms should be conducted to identify potential session management weaknesses. Organizations should also consider implementing additional authentication layers such as two-factor authentication to provide defense-in-depth against session hijacking attacks.