CVE-2015-7537 in Jenkins
Summary
by MITRE
Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in CloudBees Jenkins before 1.640 and LTS before 1.625.2 allows remote attackers to hijack the authentication of administrators for requests that have unspecified impact via vectors related to the HTTP GET method.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 07/06/2022
The CVE-2015-7537 vulnerability represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw affecting CloudBees Jenkins versions prior to 1.640 and LTS versions before 1.625.2. This vulnerability resides within the web application's authentication mechanism and specifically targets the HTTP GET method implementation, creating a significant security risk for Jenkins administrators. The flaw allows remote attackers to exploit the trust relationship between the web application and its authenticated users, enabling unauthorized actions through crafted requests that appear legitimate to the target system.
The technical nature of this CSRF vulnerability stems from the absence of proper anti-CSRF protections in Jenkins' web interface. When administrators interact with Jenkins through HTTP GET requests, the application fails to validate the origin of these requests adequately. This weakness enables attackers to construct malicious URLs that, when visited by an authenticated administrator, execute unintended administrative actions on the Jenkins server. The unspecified impact vector suggests that attackers could potentially perform various operations including but not limited to job creation, configuration changes, plugin management, or even privilege escalation depending on the administrator's access level.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access, as it specifically targets administrator accounts which typically possess elevated privileges within Jenkins environments. Attackers exploiting this vulnerability could gain control over continuous integration pipelines, modify build configurations, install malicious plugins, or manipulate the entire Jenkins infrastructure. The remote nature of the attack means that no local system compromise is required, making it particularly dangerous in environments where Jenkins is accessible from untrusted networks. This vulnerability directly violates the principle of least privilege and undermines the integrity of the authentication system.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2015-7537 involve immediate upgrading to patched versions of Jenkins where CSRF protection mechanisms have been properly implemented. Organizations should also implement additional security controls such as network segmentation, firewall rules restricting access to Jenkins servers, and enabling two-factor authentication where possible. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery weaknesses in web applications. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to technique T1190 - Exploit Public-Facing Application, and could lead to subsequent techniques including T1078 - Valid Accounts and T1087 - Account Discovery as attackers attempt to maintain access and escalate privileges within the compromised Jenkins environment. Regular security assessments and vulnerability scanning should be implemented to identify similar weaknesses in other web applications within the organization's attack surface.