CVE-2022-20613 in Communications Cloud Native Core Automated Test Suite
Summary
by MITRE • 01/12/2022
A cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in Jenkins Mailer Plugin 391.ve4a_38c1b_cf4b_ and earlier allows attackers to use the DNS used by the Jenkins instance to resolve an attacker-specified hostname.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 03/10/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-20613 represents a critical cross-site request forgery flaw within the Jenkins Mailer Plugin version 391.ve4a_38c1b_cf4b_ and earlier releases. This CSRF vulnerability enables authenticated attackers with sufficient privileges to manipulate the DNS resolution behavior of the Jenkins instance, creating a significant attack surface that can be exploited for various malicious purposes. The flaw specifically allows adversaries to leverage the DNS resolution capabilities of the Jenkins server to resolve attacker-controlled hostnames, potentially enabling them to redirect traffic or perform unauthorized operations against systems within the network.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of user-supplied data within the mailer plugin's DNS resolution functionality. When the plugin processes email notifications or related operations, it fails to properly sanitize or validate the hostnames used in DNS queries, creating a path for attackers to inject malicious domain names. This weakness falls under the CWE-352 category of Cross-Site Request Forgery, which is classified as a fundamental web application security flaw that allows attackers to perform actions on behalf of authenticated users without their knowledge or consent. The vulnerability exists because the plugin does not adequately implement anti-CSRF tokens or other protective mechanisms that would prevent unauthorized requests from being executed against the vulnerable system.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple DNS manipulation, as it can serve as a stepping stone for more sophisticated attacks within the Jenkins environment. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability could potentially redirect email notifications to malicious domains, intercept sensitive communications, or even use the DNS resolution capabilities to perform reconnaissance against internal systems. This vulnerability particularly affects organizations that rely heavily on Jenkins for continuous integration and deployment processes, as it could enable attackers to compromise the build infrastructure and potentially access source code repositories or deployment targets. The attack vector is particularly concerning because it requires only authenticated access, meaning that an attacker with valid Jenkins credentials could exploit this flaw without requiring additional privileges.
Security professionals should implement immediate mitigations including updating the Jenkins Mailer Plugin to versions that address this vulnerability, which typically involves applying the latest security patches from the Jenkins project. Organizations should also consider implementing additional network-level protections such as DNS filtering and monitoring for unusual DNS resolution patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability aligns with several ATT&CK techniques including T1071.004 for application layer protocol: DNS and T1566 for credential harvesting through social engineering, as attackers could potentially use this vulnerability to gather additional credentials or information from compromised Jenkins systems. Regular security assessments and monitoring of Jenkins plugin versions should be conducted to prevent similar vulnerabilities from being exploited in the future, as this type of flaw represents a common pattern in web application security where insufficient input validation leads to significant operational risks.