CVE-2019-16549 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.1) XML External Entity (XXE) vulnerability in org.jenkins-ci.plugins.m2release:m2release. A fix is available for org.jenkins-ci.plugins.m2release:m2release — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Jenkins Maven Release Plug-in Plugin XXE vulnerability
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
org.jenkins-ci.plugins.m2release:m2releaseReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Jenkins Maven Release Plug-in Plugin retrieves XML from Nexus repository manager APIs. Maven Release Plug-in Plugin 0.16.1 and earlier does not configure the XML parser to prevent XML external entity (XXE) attacks. While Jenkins users without Overall/Administer permission are not allowed to configure a custom Nexus URL, this could still be exploited via man-in-the-middle attacks, especially if it’s not an HTTPS URL.
Additionally, a connection test form validation method does not require POST requests, resulting in a cross-site request forgery vulnerability. Combined, these two vulnerabilities allow attackers to have Jenkins parse crafted XML documents that use external entities for extraction of secrets from the Jenkins controller, server-side request forgery, or denial-of-service attacks.
Maven Release Plug-in Plugin 0.16.2 configures its XML parser to prevent XML external entity (XXE) attacks. It also now requires that requests to the connection test form validation method are done via POST, which protects from cross-site request forgery attacks.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.jenkins-ci.plugins.m2release:m2release | all versions | 0.16.2org.jenkins-ci.plugins.m2release:m2release:0.16.2 |
Affected Products
mavenjenkinsDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.jenkins-ci.plugins.m2release:m2release, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.jenkins-ci.plugins.m2release:m2release to 0.16.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-16549 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Restrict outbound requests from the affected component to an allowlist of hosts, block access to link-local and internal address ranges at the network layer, and require authentication on internal services so a forged request cannot reach them unauthenticated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2019-16549 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.