CVE-2019-16554 in Build Failure Analyzer Plugin
Summary
by MITRE
A missing permission check in Jenkins Build Failure Analyzer Plugin 1.24.1 and earlier allows attackers with Overall/Read permission to have Jenkins evaluate a computationally expensive regular expression.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/18/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2019-16554 resides within the Jenkins Build Failure Analyzer Plugin version 1.24.1 and earlier, representing a critical authorization flaw that undermines the security posture of Jenkins environments. This issue manifests as a missing permission check that allows unauthorized users with only Overall/Read permission to trigger computationally intensive regular expression evaluations. The flaw directly violates the principle of least privilege and demonstrates a significant gap in Jenkins' access control mechanisms, where read-only users can potentially disrupt system performance through resource exhaustion attacks.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from inadequate input validation and permission verification within the plugin's regular expression processing functionality. When an attacker with Overall/Read permission submits malicious input that triggers regular expression evaluation, the system fails to properly verify whether the user has appropriate authorization levels for such computationally intensive operations. This missing permission check creates an attack surface where adversaries can exploit the plugin's regex processing capabilities to consume excessive CPU resources, potentially leading to denial of service conditions that affect legitimate users and system operations.
The operational impact of CVE-2019-16554 extends beyond simple performance degradation to encompass broader security implications within Jenkins environments. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to perform resource exhaustion attacks that may affect other services running on the same Jenkins server, potentially causing cascading failures across the build infrastructure. The computational expense of regular expression evaluation can quickly escalate when malicious patterns are submitted, leading to system instability and service unavailability for authorized users who require normal build and analysis operations to continue uninterrupted.
This vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control issues in software systems, and demonstrates how insufficient permission checks can create security weaknesses that allow privilege escalation or resource abuse scenarios. The ATT&CK framework categorizes this issue under T1499.004, specifically targeting network denial of service through resource consumption attacks, where attackers exploit legitimate system functionality to exhaust computational resources. Organizations implementing Jenkins with the affected plugin may find their build environments vulnerable to both intentional disruption and potential exploitation for more sophisticated attacks that could leverage the system's reduced performance to execute additional malicious activities.
Mitigation strategies for CVE-2019-16554 require immediate action including upgrading the Build Failure Analyzer plugin to version 1.25 or later, where the missing permission check has been addressed. Organizations should also implement network-level restrictions to limit access to the plugin's endpoints and consider implementing rate limiting mechanisms to prevent abuse of the regex evaluation functionality. Additionally, security teams should conduct comprehensive audits of all installed Jenkins plugins to identify similar permission check gaps and ensure that proper authorization controls are in place for all system operations that could potentially consume excessive resources or provide unauthorized access to sensitive functionality.