CVE-2022-41231 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting the Jenkins Build-Publisher Plugin version 1.22 and earlier. Jenkins is a widely used open-source automation server that facilitates continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. The Build-Publisher Plugin is used to publish build artifacts and related files. This vulnerability allows an attacker who already has Item/Configure permission within Jenkins to exploit an API endpoint by supplying a crafted file name. This crafted input enables the attacker to create or overwrite any config.xml file on the Jenkins controller's filesystem. The config.xml files in Jenkins are critical as they store configuration data for jobs, nodes, and other Jenkins components. Overwriting these files can lead to unauthorized changes in job configurations, potentially enabling privilege escalation, pipeline manipulation, or disruption of build processes. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-22 (Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory), indicating a directory traversal or file overwrite flaw. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 5.7 (medium), reflecting that the attack vector is network-based (AV:N), requires low attack complexity (AC:L), but does require privileges (PR:L) and user interaction (UI:R). The impact is limited to integrity (I:H) with no confidentiality or availability impact. No known exploits are reported in the wild as of the published date (September 21, 2022). No patches or mitigation links are provided in the source data, indicating that users should verify plugin updates or apply configuration workarounds. This vulnerability is significant because it allows authorized users to escalate their control over Jenkins configurations beyond intended limits, potentially compromising the CI/CD pipeline's integrity and trustworthiness.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a risk primarily to the integrity of their CI/CD pipelines managed through Jenkins. Many enterprises and public sector organizations in Europe rely on Jenkins for software development and deployment automation. An attacker with Item/Configure permissions—often developers or build managers—could exploit this flaw to alter job configurations maliciously, inject malicious build steps, or disrupt automated workflows. This could lead to compromised software builds, introduction of backdoors, or sabotage of production deployments. While the vulnerability does not directly impact confidentiality or availability, the integrity breach can have downstream effects such as deploying compromised software to production environments, which can lead to data breaches or service disruptions. Given the reliance on automated pipelines in sectors like finance, manufacturing, and government, the threat could undermine operational security and compliance with regulations such as GDPR if malicious code is introduced. The requirement for existing permissions and user interaction limits the attack surface but does not eliminate risk, especially in environments with large teams or insufficient access controls.

European organizations should take the following specific actions to mitigate this vulnerability: 1) Immediately audit Jenkins instances to identify usage of the Build-Publisher Plugin version 1.22 or earlier. 2) Upgrade the Build-Publisher Plugin to the latest available version where this vulnerability is patched; if no patch is currently available, monitor Jenkins security advisories closely. 3) Restrict Item/Configure permissions strictly to trusted personnel and enforce the principle of least privilege to reduce the number of users who can exploit this vulnerability. 4) Implement strong authentication and session management controls to prevent unauthorized access to Jenkins accounts. 5) Monitor Jenkins logs and API usage for suspicious activity, particularly unusual file write operations targeting config.xml files. 6) Consider isolating Jenkins controllers and limiting network exposure to reduce the risk of remote exploitation. 7) Use configuration management and version control for Jenkins job configurations to detect unauthorized changes promptly. 8) Educate Jenkins users about the risks of social engineering or phishing that could lead to user interaction exploitation. These steps go beyond generic advice by focusing on access control tightening, monitoring, and configuration management specific to Jenkins environments.