CVE-2022-45386 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting the Jenkins Violations Plugin version 0.7.11 and earlier. The root cause of the vulnerability is the plugin's failure to properly configure its XML parser to prevent XML External Entity (XXE) attacks, classified under CWE-611. XXE vulnerabilities arise when an XML parser processes external entities within XML input, potentially allowing an attacker to read arbitrary files, perform server-side request forgery (SSRF), or cause denial of service by exhausting resources. In this case, the Jenkins Violations Plugin does not disable or restrict external entity processing, which can be exploited by an attacker who can supply crafted XML input to the plugin. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 5.5 (medium), with the vector AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N. This indicates that the attack requires local access (AV:L), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges (PR:N), and user interaction (UI:R). The impact is high on confidentiality (C:H), but no impact on integrity or availability. The plugin is used within Jenkins, a widely adopted open-source automation server for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD). The Violations Plugin is typically used to report and track code quality violations during build processes. Exploiting this vulnerability would require an attacker to have local access to the Jenkins environment or trick a user with access into interacting with malicious XML content processed by the plugin. There are no known exploits in the wild as of the published date, and no official patches linked in the provided data. The vulnerability was published on November 15, 2022, and is recognized by the Jenkins project and CISA enrichment. Given the nature of Jenkins environments, this vulnerability could be leveraged to exfiltrate sensitive configuration files or credentials stored on the Jenkins server, potentially leading to further compromise within the CI/CD pipeline.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2022-45386 can be significant, especially for those heavily reliant on Jenkins for their software development and deployment workflows. Confidentiality breaches could expose sensitive source code, credentials, or internal infrastructure details, which can lead to intellectual property theft or facilitate lateral movement by attackers. Organizations in sectors such as finance, telecommunications, and critical infrastructure, which often have stringent compliance requirements (e.g., GDPR), may face regulatory and reputational damage if sensitive data is leaked. Since the vulnerability requires local access or user interaction, the risk is somewhat mitigated in well-segmented and controlled environments; however, insider threats or compromised developer workstations could be vectors. The lack of impact on integrity and availability means the vulnerability is less likely to cause direct service disruption or data tampering but remains a serious confidentiality risk. Additionally, the plugin’s usage in automated pipelines means that exploitation could be stealthy and persistent, complicating detection and response.

1. Immediate mitigation involves disabling or removing the Jenkins Violations Plugin if it is not critical to the build process until a patched version is available. 2. Restrict access to Jenkins servers strictly to trusted personnel and enforce network segmentation to limit local access vectors. 3. Educate users with Jenkins access about the risks of interacting with untrusted XML content or build artifacts. 4. Implement strict input validation and sanitization for any XML inputs processed by Jenkins plugins, where possible. 5. Monitor Jenkins logs and network traffic for unusual activity indicative of XXE exploitation attempts, such as unexpected outbound requests or file access patterns. 6. Apply the principle of least privilege to Jenkins service accounts and credentials to minimize the impact of potential data exposure. 7. Regularly update Jenkins and all plugins to the latest versions once patches addressing this vulnerability are released. 8. Consider deploying runtime application self-protection (RASP) or web application firewalls (WAF) that can detect and block XXE payloads targeting Jenkins endpoints. 9. Conduct security audits and penetration tests focusing on CI/CD pipelines to identify and remediate similar XML parsing weaknesses.