CVE-2022-45394 is a medium-severity vulnerability identified in the Jenkins Delete log Plugin version 1.0 and earlier. The vulnerability stems from a missing permission check within the plugin, which allows an attacker who already has Item/Read permission on a Jenkins instance to delete build logs without additional authorization. Jenkins is a widely used open-source automation server primarily employed for continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines. The Delete log Plugin is designed to manage build logs, including their deletion. However, due to this missing permission validation, an attacker with relatively low privileges (Item/Read) can delete build logs, impacting the integrity of the build history and audit trails. The CVSS 3.1 base score is 4.3, reflecting a medium severity level, with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), requiring privileges (PR:L), no user interaction (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), no confidentiality impact (C:N), low integrity impact (I:L), and no availability impact (A:N). There are no known exploits in the wild at the time of publication, and no patches have been explicitly linked, though it is expected that plugin maintainers will release updates to address this issue. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-862 (Missing Authorization). This flaw could be exploited remotely by authenticated users with read access to items, enabling them to delete build logs, which could hinder forensic investigations, disrupt audit processes, and potentially cover tracks of malicious activities within CI/CD pipelines.

For European organizations, the impact of this vulnerability primarily affects the integrity of build logs within Jenkins environments. Build logs are critical for traceability, compliance, and forensic analysis in software development and deployment processes. Deletion of these logs by unauthorized users could lead to loss of audit trails, making it difficult to detect or investigate malicious activities or accidental errors. This could be particularly problematic for organizations in regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure sectors, where compliance with standards like GDPR, NIS Directive, or industry-specific regulations requires maintaining detailed logs. Additionally, tampering with build logs could facilitate supply chain attacks by obscuring unauthorized code changes or build manipulations. While the vulnerability does not directly impact confidentiality or availability, the integrity compromise can have downstream effects on trustworthiness of software delivery pipelines. Since Jenkins is widely adopted across Europe, especially in technology-driven countries and sectors, the risk is non-negligible. However, exploitation requires at least Item/Read permissions, which somewhat limits the attack surface to authenticated users with some level of access.

To mitigate this vulnerability, European organizations should: 1) Immediately review and restrict Item/Read permissions in Jenkins to only trusted users, minimizing the number of users who can exploit this flaw. 2) Monitor and audit build log deletion activities closely to detect any unauthorized deletions promptly. 3) Upgrade the Jenkins Delete log Plugin to the latest version once a patch is released by the maintainers; if no patch is available, consider disabling or uninstalling the plugin temporarily to prevent exploitation. 4) Implement role-based access control (RBAC) policies that enforce the principle of least privilege, ensuring users have only the permissions necessary for their role. 5) Use Jenkins audit logging and external log aggregation tools to maintain immutable copies of build logs outside Jenkins, enabling recovery and forensic analysis even if logs are deleted within Jenkins. 6) Educate Jenkins administrators and developers about this vulnerability and encourage vigilance regarding permission assignments and plugin updates. 7) Consider network segmentation and multi-factor authentication for Jenkins access to reduce the risk of unauthorized access.