CVE-2020-2140 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in org.jenkins-ci.plugins:audit-trail. EPSS puts its 30-day exploitation probability at 76.0% (100th percentile). A fix is available for org.jenkins-ci.plugins:audit-trail — see the affected versions and patch details below.
XSS vulnerability in Jenkins Audit Trail Plugin
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-2020-2140 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 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the 50–90% 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.plugins:audit-trailReal-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 Audit Trail Plugin 3.2 and earlier does not escape the error message for the URL Patterns field form validation, resulting in a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability. Audit Trail Plugin 3.3 escapes the affected part of the error message.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.jenkins-ci.plugins:audit-trail | all versions | 3.3org.jenkins-ci.plugins:audit-trail:3.3 |
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.plugins:audit-trail, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.jenkins-ci.plugins:audit-trail to 3.3 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2020-2140 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-2020-2140 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2020-2140. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
How to detect CVE-2020-2140
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id cve-2020-2140 -u https://target- Template
- Jenkin Audit Trail <=3.2 - Cross-Site Scripting
- Severity
- medium
- Impact
- Successful exploitation of this vulnerability could allow an attacker to inject malicious scripts into the application, leading to potential data theft, session hijacking, or defacement.
- Remediation
- Upgrade to the latest version of Jenkin Audit Trail (>=3.3) which includes a fix for this vulnerability.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (j3ssie/geraldino2), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2020-2140 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2020-2140 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.