CVE-2022-46685 in Gitea Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 12/12/2022
In Jenkins Gitea Plugin 1.4.4 and earlier, the implementation of Gitea personal access tokens did not support credentials masking, potentially exposing them through the build log.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/02/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-46685 affects the Jenkins Gitea Plugin version 1.4.4 and earlier, presenting a critical security concern related to credential handling within continuous integration environments. This issue specifically targets the implementation of Gitea personal access tokens which are commonly used for authenticating with Gitea repositories during automated build processes. The flaw manifests in the plugin's inability to properly mask sensitive credentials during build operations, creating a significant exposure risk for organizations relying on Jenkins for their software development pipelines.
The technical root cause of this vulnerability lies in the improper handling of personal access tokens within the plugin's logging and display mechanisms. When Jenkins executes builds that utilize Gitea personal access tokens, these credentials are inadvertently included in build logs and console outputs without appropriate sanitization or masking. This behavior directly violates fundamental security principles for credential management and exposes sensitive authentication tokens to unauthorized access. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-200, which addresses information exposure, and represents a specific instance of inadequate credential protection during automated processes. The flaw essentially creates a situation where any individual with access to build logs or console output can extract and potentially misuse these tokens for unauthorized access to Gitea repositories.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple credential exposure, as it fundamentally undermines the security posture of Jenkins-based CI/CD pipelines that integrate with Gitea services. Attackers who gain access to build logs can extract personal access tokens and use them to perform unauthorized operations on Gitea repositories, including pushing code changes, reading private repositories, modifying repository settings, or even deleting critical code assets. This vulnerability affects the principle of least privilege by allowing unauthorized access to sensitive resources through log exposure, potentially leading to data breaches, code tampering, or supply chain compromises. The risk is particularly elevated in environments where build logs are shared across teams, stored in accessible locations, or exposed through automated monitoring systems that aggregate log data.
Organizations should implement immediate mitigations to address this vulnerability by upgrading to Jenkins Gitea Plugin version 1.4.5 or later, which contains the necessary fixes for proper credential masking. Additionally, administrators should conduct comprehensive audits of existing build logs to identify and revoke any exposed personal access tokens, implementing credential rotation procedures across all affected systems. The mitigation strategy should include configuring Jenkins to sanitize log output and implementing proper access controls to limit who can view build logs containing sensitive information. Organizations should also consider implementing additional security measures such as monitoring for unauthorized access attempts and establishing automated credential management processes that minimize the exposure window for sensitive tokens. This vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1555.003, which focuses on credential access through token manipulation, and demonstrates the importance of proper credential handling in automated environments. The remediation process should also include staff training on secure credential management practices and establishing policies for handling sensitive information in automated build processes to prevent similar issues from arising in other components of the CI/CD pipeline.