CVE-2022-38666 in NS-ND Integration Performance Publisher Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 11/15/2022
Jenkins NS-ND Integration Performance Publisher Plugin 4.8.0.146 and earlier unconditionally disables SSL/TLS certificate and hostname validation for several features.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/19/2022
The Jenkins NS-ND Integration Performance Publisher Plugin vulnerability represents a critical security flaw that undermines fundamental network security mechanisms through improper SSL/TLS validation handling. This vulnerability affects versions 4.8.0.146 and earlier of the plugin, which is designed to integrate performance monitoring capabilities with NS-ND (Network Security - Network Detection) systems. The flaw manifests as an unconditional disabling of SSL/TLS certificate and hostname validation across multiple plugin features, creating a significant attack surface that exposes systems to man-in-the-middle and impersonation threats. The vulnerability stems from the plugin's design philosophy that prioritizes ease of integration over security compliance, effectively bypassing essential cryptographic security measures that protect against unauthorized access and data interception.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability involves the plugin's indiscriminate disabling of SSL/TLS validation mechanisms during network communications with NS-ND systems. When the plugin establishes connections to remote servers or services, it systematically ignores certificate trust chains, certificate expiration checks, and hostname verification procedures that are fundamental to secure communication protocols. This behavior creates a scenario where malicious actors can perform SSL stripping attacks, intercept communications, or impersonate legitimate services without detection. The vulnerability operates at the transport layer security level, affecting all network interactions that rely on the plugin's integration capabilities and potentially exposing sensitive performance data, configuration information, and authentication tokens to unauthorized parties. From a cybersecurity perspective, this represents a direct violation of the principle of least privilege and secure communication practices that should be enforced by default in all networked applications.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple communication failures to encompass serious data integrity and confidentiality risks within Jenkins environments. Organizations utilizing affected plugin versions face potential exposure of sensitive build artifacts, performance metrics, and system configurations that could be intercepted or modified by attackers. The vulnerability particularly affects continuous integration and deployment pipelines where performance monitoring data flows between Jenkins servers and network security systems. Attackers exploiting this weakness could potentially gain insights into system vulnerabilities, network topology information, or even escalate privileges through the interception of authentication credentials or session tokens. The implications are particularly severe in enterprise environments where Jenkins serves as a central component of development infrastructure and where performance monitoring data may contain proprietary information or system vulnerabilities that could be leveraged for further attacks.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability must address both immediate remediation and long-term security posture improvements. The primary recommendation involves upgrading to plugin versions that have addressed the SSL/TLS validation bypass issue, ensuring that all affected systems are updated to the latest secure releases. Organizations should implement network monitoring solutions to detect anomalous communications patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts, particularly focusing on unusual traffic to NS-ND integration endpoints. Security teams should conduct comprehensive vulnerability assessments to identify all instances of the affected plugin across their Jenkins infrastructure and establish automated patch management processes to prevent future occurrences. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-295 which specifically addresses improper certificate validation, and it maps to ATT&CK technique T1046 for network service scanning and T1566 for credential harvesting through network infiltration. Additional defensive measures include implementing network segmentation, deploying certificate pinning mechanisms, and establishing strict access controls for Jenkins administrators to limit the potential impact of compromised systems. Organizations should also consider implementing security automation tools that can detect and alert on insecure SSL/TLS configurations within their Jenkins environments, ensuring that security policies are consistently enforced across all integration points.