Summary
Jenkins Pipeline Utility Steps Plugin arbitrary file write vulnerability
Jenkins Pipeline Utility Steps Plugin provides the untar and unzip Pipeline steps to extract archives into job workspaces.
Pipeline Utility Steps Plugin 2.15.2 and earlier does not validate or limit file paths of files contained within these archives.
This allows attackers able to provide crafted archives as parameters to create or replace arbitrary files on the agent file system with attacker-specified content.
Pipeline Utility Steps Plugin 2.15.3 rejects extraction of files in tar and zip archives that would be placed outside the expected destination directory.
Impact
A write operation targets a memory location beyond the intended buffer boundary. Typical impact: memory corruption, crash, or arbitrary code execution.
CVE-2023-32981 has a CVSS score of 6.3 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (2.15.3); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-32981? CVE-2023-32981 is a medium-severity out-of-bounds write vulnerability in org.jenkins-ci.plugins:pipeline-utility-steps (maven), affecting versions < 2.15.3. It is fixed in 2.15.3. A write operation targets a memory location beyond the intended buffer boundary.
- How severe is CVE-2023-32981? CVE-2023-32981 has a CVSS score of 6.3 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Which versions of org.jenkins-ci.plugins:pipeline-utility-steps are affected by CVE-2023-32981? org.jenkins-ci.plugins:pipeline-utility-steps (maven) versions < 2.15.3 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-32981? Yes. CVE-2023-32981 is fixed in 2.15.3. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-32981 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-32981 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2023-32981 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2023-32981? Upgrade
org.jenkins-ci.plugins:pipeline-utility-stepsto 2.15.3 or later.