CVE-2022-41251 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting the Jenkins Apprenda Plugin version 2.2.0 and earlier. The vulnerability arises from a missing permission check that allows users who have Overall/Read permission within Jenkins to enumerate credential IDs stored in the Jenkins instance. Specifically, the plugin fails to properly restrict access to credential identifiers, enabling unauthorized users with limited read privileges to obtain a list of credential IDs. Although this does not directly expose the credential secrets themselves, enumerating credential IDs can aid an attacker in further reconnaissance and targeted attacks, potentially facilitating privilege escalation or lateral movement within the Jenkins environment. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), indicating that the plugin does not enforce proper authorization controls on sensitive operations. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.3 (medium), reflecting that the attack vector is network-based (AV:N), requires low attack complexity (AC:L), needs privileges (PR:L) but no user interaction (UI:N), and impacts confidentiality to a limited extent (C:L) without affecting integrity or availability. No known exploits are reported in the wild, and no patches are linked in the provided data, though it is likely that the Jenkins project has addressed this in subsequent plugin updates.

For European organizations using Jenkins with the Apprenda Plugin, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily related to information disclosure. Unauthorized enumeration of credential IDs can provide attackers with valuable intelligence about the credentials stored in Jenkins, which is often used for automating build and deployment pipelines. This information can be leveraged to identify high-value targets for further exploitation, such as credentials linked to production systems or cloud environments. While the vulnerability does not directly expose credential secrets or allow modification, it lowers the barrier for attackers to craft more effective attacks, potentially leading to privilege escalation or unauthorized access to critical infrastructure. Organizations in sectors with stringent compliance requirements, such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure in Europe, may face increased risk if attackers use this vulnerability as part of a broader attack chain. Additionally, given the widespread use of Jenkins in European IT environments, especially in software development and DevOps workflows, the vulnerability could have a broad impact if not mitigated.

To mitigate CVE-2022-41251, European organizations should take the following specific actions: 1) Immediately review and restrict Jenkins user permissions to the minimum necessary, ensuring that only trusted users have Overall/Read permissions, as this vulnerability requires such privileges to be exploited. 2) Upgrade the Jenkins Apprenda Plugin to the latest version where the vulnerability is patched; if no patch is available, consider disabling or removing the plugin until an update is released. 3) Implement strict access controls and audit logging on Jenkins instances to detect unusual enumeration activities or unauthorized access attempts. 4) Use Jenkins credential management best practices, such as credential masking and limiting credential scope, to reduce the impact if credential IDs are enumerated. 5) Regularly monitor Jenkins security advisories and CVE databases for updates related to this plugin and apply security patches promptly. 6) Consider network segmentation and firewall rules to limit access to Jenkins instances only to authorized personnel and systems within the organization.