CVE-2017-2604 in Jenkins
Summary
by MITRE
In Jenkins before versions 2.44, 2.32.2 low privilege users were able to act on administrative monitors due to them not being consistently protected by permission checks (SECURITY-371).
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/13/2023
This vulnerability in Jenkins represents a critical access control flaw that allowed low privilege users to perform administrative actions through the monitoring interface. The issue stemmed from inconsistent permission validation mechanisms within the Jenkins security framework, specifically affecting versions prior to 2.44 and 2.32.2. The vulnerability was categorized as SECURITY-371 and exposed a fundamental weakness in the application's privilege enforcement model. Attackers could exploit this flaw to gain unauthorized access to administrative monitoring functions that should have been restricted to users with appropriate privileges.
The technical root cause of CVE-2017-2604 lies in the absence of proper authorization checks when accessing administrative monitoring components within Jenkins. This represents a classic case of insufficient privilege checking or access control validation that falls under the CWE-284 access control weakness category. The flaw occurred because Jenkins failed to consistently enforce permission requirements when users interacted with monitoring interfaces, allowing users with minimal privileges to bypass normal security boundaries. This vulnerability particularly affected the monitoring system's ability to distinguish between regular user actions and administrative operations, creating a pathway for privilege escalation through the monitoring subsystem.
The operational impact of this vulnerability was significant as it enabled attackers to perform administrative functions without proper authorization, potentially leading to system compromise or data exposure. Low privilege users could access sensitive monitoring information and potentially manipulate system state through the administrative monitoring interface. This flaw created a persistent security risk that could be exploited by both internal and external attackers who had gained minimal access to the Jenkins instance. The vulnerability's impact extended beyond simple information disclosure to include potential system manipulation and privilege escalation, making it particularly dangerous in environments where Jenkins serves as a critical build and deployment platform.
Organizations affected by CVE-2017-2604 should immediately implement the recommended security patches that address the inconsistent permission checks in the monitoring interface. The fix involves ensuring that all administrative monitoring functions properly validate user permissions before executing privileged operations. Security teams should conduct comprehensive audits of their Jenkins installations to verify that all monitoring interfaces properly enforce access controls and that no similar permission bypass vulnerabilities exist within the system. Additionally, implementing proper logging and monitoring of administrative activities can help detect unauthorized access attempts to monitoring interfaces, providing visibility into potential exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the importance of consistent security controls across all application interfaces and highlights the need for regular security assessments to identify and remediate access control weaknesses.