CVE-2022-46685 is a medium-severity vulnerability affecting the Jenkins Gitea Plugin version 1.4.4 and earlier. The vulnerability arises from the improper handling of Gitea personal access tokens within the plugin. Specifically, the plugin's implementation does not support credentials masking for these tokens, which means that when these tokens are used during Jenkins build processes, they may be exposed in the build logs in plaintext. This exposure can lead to unauthorized disclosure of sensitive credentials. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-319, which pertains to the cleartext transmission of sensitive information. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 4.3, indicating a medium severity level. The vector string (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N) shows that the attack vector is network-based, requires low attack complexity, and requires privileges (PR:L) but no user interaction. The impact is limited to confidentiality (C:L), with no impact on integrity or availability. No known exploits are reported in the wild, and no patch links are provided in the source data, suggesting that remediation may require updating the plugin to a version beyond 1.4.4 once available or applying vendor guidance. The vulnerability mainly concerns the leakage of personal access tokens through build logs, which can be accessed by users with access to Jenkins build logs, potentially leading to unauthorized access to Gitea repositories or related resources if tokens are compromised. This issue is significant in environments where Jenkins is integrated with Gitea for continuous integration and deployment pipelines, especially in organizations that rely on personal access tokens for authentication and authorization.

For European organizations, the exposure of Gitea personal access tokens in Jenkins build logs can lead to unauthorized access to source code repositories, potentially resulting in intellectual property theft, code tampering, or insertion of malicious code. While the vulnerability does not directly affect system integrity or availability, the confidentiality breach can have downstream effects, including supply chain attacks or leakage of sensitive development information. Organizations with complex CI/CD pipelines using Jenkins and Gitea are at higher risk, especially those in sectors with stringent data protection requirements such as finance, healthcare, and critical infrastructure. The exposure of tokens could also facilitate lateral movement within networks if attackers leverage compromised credentials to access other systems. Given the medium severity and the requirement for some level of privileges to exploit, the threat is more pronounced in environments where multiple users have access to Jenkins build logs or where logs are not adequately protected. The lack of user interaction needed for exploitation means that once an attacker has the necessary privileges, they can easily extract tokens without alerting users. This vulnerability could also affect compliance with GDPR and other European data protection regulations if personal or sensitive data is indirectly exposed through compromised repositories.

European organizations should take the following specific actions: 1) Immediately audit Jenkins instances using the Gitea Plugin to identify versions 1.4.4 and earlier and plan for an upgrade to the latest plugin version that addresses this vulnerability once available. 2) Restrict access to Jenkins build logs to only trusted and necessary personnel, implementing strict role-based access controls (RBAC) and monitoring access logs for unusual activity. 3) Rotate all Gitea personal access tokens that may have been exposed through build logs to invalidate potentially compromised credentials. 4) Implement secure logging practices, such as masking or encrypting sensitive information in logs, and consider using centralized log management solutions with enhanced security controls. 5) Review and harden Jenkins and Gitea integration configurations to minimize token exposure, including using environment variables or credential stores that support masking. 6) Conduct regular security training for DevOps teams to raise awareness about credential management and the risks of token exposure. 7) Monitor for any suspicious activity in Gitea repositories and Jenkins environments that could indicate exploitation attempts. 8) If possible, isolate CI/CD environments from broader corporate networks to limit the impact of potential credential leaks.