CVE-2020-2196 in Selenium Plugin
Summary
by MITRE
Jenkins Selenium Plugin 3.141.59 and earlier has no CSRF protection for its HTTP endpoints, allowing attackers to perform all administrative actions provided by the plugin.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/04/2020
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2020-2196 affects the Jenkins Selenium Plugin version 3.141.59 and earlier, representing a critical security flaw that undermines the integrity of Jenkins automation environments. This issue stems from the absence of Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) protection mechanisms within the plugin's HTTP endpoints, creating a significant attack surface that can be exploited by malicious actors to execute unauthorized administrative operations. The vulnerability specifically targets the plugin's web interface components that handle administrative functions, making it particularly dangerous in environments where Jenkins serves as a central automation hub for continuous integration and deployment processes.
The technical flaw manifests as a complete lack of CSRF protection in the plugin's HTTP endpoints, which means that any authenticated user or attacker who can trick a victim into making requests to the Jenkins server can perform administrative actions without proper authorization. This vulnerability operates at the application layer and directly violates fundamental security principles of web application design. According to CWE-352, this represents a classic Cross-Site Request Forgery vulnerability where the application fails to validate the origin of requests, allowing attackers to perform actions on behalf of authenticated users. The absence of CSRF tokens or other protective mechanisms in the plugin's endpoint handlers creates an exploitable condition that can be leveraged through social engineering attacks or by manipulating existing authenticated sessions.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privilege escalation, as it enables attackers to perform a comprehensive range of administrative actions within the Jenkins environment. These actions include but are not limited to creating, modifying, or deleting jobs, configuring system settings, managing user accounts, and potentially accessing sensitive build artifacts or credentials stored within the Jenkins instance. The implications are particularly severe in enterprise environments where Jenkins serves as a critical component of software delivery pipelines, as attackers could compromise entire CI/CD processes, inject malicious code, or disrupt development workflows. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1059.001 for executing commands and T1566 for phishing attacks, as it can be exploited through various attack vectors including malicious links or compromised user sessions.
Organizations affected by this vulnerability should immediately implement mitigations to protect their Jenkins environments from exploitation. The primary recommended action is to upgrade to Jenkins Selenium Plugin version 3.141.60 or later, which includes the necessary CSRF protection mechanisms. Additionally, administrators should review their Jenkins security configurations, including implementing proper access controls, enabling CSRF protection at the Jenkins core level, and monitoring for suspicious administrative activities. Network-level protections such as implementing web application firewalls and restricting access to Jenkins endpoints can provide additional defense-in-depth measures. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing comprehensive security monitoring for automation platforms that handle sensitive development workflows. Organizations should also conduct security assessments to identify other plugins or components that may be similarly vulnerable to CSRF attacks, as this represents a broader pattern of security oversight in Jenkins plugin development that requires systematic attention and remediation across the entire ecosystem.