CVE-2022-41252 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting the Jenkins CONS3RT Plugin version 1.0.0 and earlier. The vulnerability arises due to missing permission checks within the plugin, allowing users who have Overall/Read permissions on the Jenkins instance to enumerate the IDs of credentials stored in Jenkins. Specifically, the plugin fails to properly restrict access to credential identifiers, which can be leveraged by an attacker with limited read privileges to gain insight into the credential store. Although the vulnerability does not allow direct access to credential secrets or modification of credentials, enumerating credential IDs can aid attackers in reconnaissance activities, potentially facilitating further targeted attacks or privilege escalation. The CVSS v3.1 score of 4.3 reflects a low complexity attack vector (network), requiring low privileges (Overall/Read permission) but no user interaction, with limited confidentiality impact and no impact on integrity or availability. The vulnerability is categorized under CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), indicating a failure to enforce proper authorization controls. No known exploits are reported in the wild, and no patches are explicitly linked, suggesting that remediation may require plugin updates or configuration changes by Jenkins administrators.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily in environments where Jenkins is used extensively for continuous integration and deployment pipelines, especially in sectors with sensitive or regulated data such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. The ability to enumerate credential IDs can facilitate reconnaissance that may lead to targeted attacks, including attempts to exploit other vulnerabilities or social engineering attacks to obtain credential secrets. While the vulnerability itself does not expose credential secrets or allow modification, it lowers the barrier for attackers to identify valuable credentials, potentially accelerating lateral movement or privilege escalation within the network. Organizations with large Jenkins deployments or multi-tenant Jenkins environments where users have varying permission levels are particularly at risk. Given the widespread use of Jenkins in European enterprises and public sector organizations, the vulnerability could be leveraged to compromise build pipelines, leading to supply chain risks or unauthorized code deployment if combined with other vulnerabilities or misconfigurations.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should: 1) Review and tighten Jenkins permission schemes to ensure that only trusted users have Overall/Read permissions, minimizing exposure to untrusted or low-privilege users. 2) Monitor and audit Jenkins user activities to detect unusual enumeration or access patterns related to credentials. 3) Update the CONS3RT Plugin to the latest version if a patch addressing this vulnerability becomes available; if no patch exists, consider disabling or removing the plugin if it is not essential. 4) Implement network segmentation and access controls to restrict Jenkins access to trusted networks and users. 5) Employ credential vaulting solutions external to Jenkins where possible, reducing reliance on Jenkins-stored credentials. 6) Educate Jenkins administrators and developers about the risks of excessive permissions and the importance of least privilege principles. 7) Regularly review Jenkins plugins for security advisories and apply updates promptly to reduce exposure to known vulnerabilities.