CVE-2022-45381 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in org.jenkins-ci.plugins:pipeline-utility-steps. A fix is available for org.jenkins-ci.plugins:pipeline-utility-steps — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Arbitrary file read vulnerability in Jenkins Pipeline Utility Steps Plugin
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2022-45381.
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-2022-45381 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 377,636 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.plugins:pipeline-utility-stepsReal-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
Pipeline Utility Steps Plugin implements a readProperties Pipeline step that supports interpolation of variables using the Apache Commons Configuration library.
Pipeline Utility Steps Plugin 2.13.1 and earlier does not restrict the set of enabled prefix interpolators and bundles versions of this library that enable the file: prefix interpolator by default.
This allows attackers able to configure Pipelines to read arbitrary files from the Jenkins controller file system.
Pipeline Utility Steps Plugin 2.13.2 restricts the set of prefix interpolators enabled by default to base64Decoder:, base64Encoder:, date:, urlDecoder:, and urlEncoder:.
Administrators can set the Java system property org.jenkinsci.plugins.pipeline.utility.steps.conf.ReadPropertiesStepExecution.CUSTOM_PREFIX_INTERPOLATOR_LOOKUPS to customize which prefix interpolators are enabled.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.jenkins-ci.plugins:pipeline-utility-steps | all versions | 2.13.2org.jenkins-ci.plugins:pipeline-utility-steps:2.13.2 |
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:pipeline-utility-steps, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.jenkins-ci.plugins:pipeline-utility-steps to 2.13.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-45381 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-2022-45381 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-45381. 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.
OpenShift 3.11 is already in the ELS support model phase. The Jenkins components are out of scope of the ELS support; hence the OpenShift 3.11 Jenkins component is marked in this CVE as out of support scope.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.10 | jenkins-2-plugins-0:4.10.1675144701-1.el8 | RHSA-2023:0560 |
| Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform 4.9 | jenkins-2-plugins-0:4.9.1675668922-1.el8 | RHSA-2023:0777 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-45381 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-45381 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.