CVE-2020-2101 — jenkins-core
MEDIUMCVE-2020-2101 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.3) CWE-203 vulnerability in org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core. A fix is available for org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Non-constant time comparison of inbound TCP agent connection secret
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2020-2101 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,166 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core☕org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-coreReal-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 2.218 and earlier, LTS 2.204.1 and earlier did not use a constant-time comparison function for validating connection secrets, which could potentially allow an attacker to use a timing attack to obtain this secret.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core | all versions | 2.204.2org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core:2.204.2 |
| ☕Maven | org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core | ≥ 2.205&&< 2.219 | 2.219org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core:2.219 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core to 2.204.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-2101 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2020-2101 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2020-2101. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 3.11 | atomic-enterprise-service-catalog-1:3.11.170-1.git.1.91db82e.el7 | RHBA-2020:0402 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.3 | jenkins-0:2.204.2.1583446818-1.el7 | RHBA-2020:0675 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-2101 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2020-2101 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.