CVE-2020-2090 in Amazon EC2 Plugin
Summary
by MITRE
A cross-site request forgery vulnerability in Jenkins Amazon EC2 Plugin 1.47 and earlier allows attackers to connect to an attacker-specified URL within the AWS region using attacker-specified credentials IDs obtained through another method.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/16/2020
The cross-site request forgery vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-2090 resides within the Jenkins Amazon EC2 Plugin version 1.47 and earlier, representing a critical security flaw that enables unauthorized attackers to manipulate the plugin's functionality through malicious web requests. This vulnerability specifically affects the plugin's handling of AWS region connections and credential management, creating a pathway for attackers to execute unauthorized operations within the targeted AWS environment. The flaw stems from insufficient validation of user-supplied parameters during the connection process, allowing malicious actors to specify arbitrary URLs and credentials IDs that the plugin will subsequently use for AWS operations.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the plugin's failure to properly authenticate and validate the origin of connection requests, particularly when establishing connections to AWS resources within specific regions. Attackers can craft malicious requests that appear legitimate to the Jenkins system but actually redirect connections to attacker-controlled endpoints, potentially enabling them to access AWS resources using stolen or compromised credential identifiers. This represents a direct violation of the principle of least privilege and demonstrates a critical failure in input validation and request origin verification. The vulnerability operates at the application layer and can be exploited through standard web browser-based attacks, making it particularly dangerous in environments where Jenkins is exposed to untrusted networks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple unauthorized access, as it can enable attackers to establish persistent connections to AWS resources, potentially allowing for data exfiltration, resource manipulation, or even lateral movement within the AWS infrastructure. The ability to specify arbitrary URLs within the AWS region creates opportunities for attackers to redirect connections through compromised endpoints or to exploit other vulnerabilities in the AWS network stack. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations that rely heavily on Jenkins for continuous integration and deployment workflows, where the plugin's functionality is critical for automated AWS resource provisioning and management. The consequences can range from unauthorized resource consumption and potential data breaches to complete compromise of AWS accounts if the stolen credentials possess elevated privileges.
Organizations should immediately upgrade to Jenkins Amazon EC2 Plugin version 1.48 or later, which includes proper CSRF protection mechanisms and enhanced input validation. The mitigation strategy must also include implementing network-level restrictions to limit access to Jenkins systems, deploying web application firewalls to monitor and filter malicious requests, and conducting comprehensive credential rotation exercises to ensure compromised identifiers are not exploited. Security teams should also review existing Jenkins configurations to ensure that the plugin is not exposed to untrusted networks and that proper authentication controls are in place. This vulnerability aligns with CWE-352, which specifically addresses Cross-Site Request Forgery, and maps to ATT&CK technique T1078 for valid accounts and T1566 for social engineering, as it exploits the trust relationship between the Jenkins system and AWS services. Regular security assessments and penetration testing should be conducted to identify similar vulnerabilities in other Jenkins plugins and ensure comprehensive protection against credential theft and unauthorized AWS resource access.