Maven Archetype Plugin: Maven Archetype integration-test may package local settings into the published artifact, possibly containing credentialsGHSA-2qq7-fch2-phqf
LOWFix: apache/maven-archetype#188GHSA-2qq7-fch2-phqf is a low-severity (CVSS 3.1) Information Exposure vulnerability in org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin. A fix is available for org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
- 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 GHSA-2qq7-fch2-phqf.
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.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-pluginReal-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
Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor, Insecure Storage of Sensitive Information vulnerability in Maven Archetype Plugin.
This issue affects Maven Archetype Plugin: from 3.2.1 before 3.3.0.
Users are recommended to upgrade to version 3.3.0, which fixes the issue.
Archetype integration testing creates a file called ./target/classes/archetype-it/archetype-settings.xml This file contains all the content from the users ~/.m2/settings.xml file, which often contains information they do not want to publish. We expect that on many developer machines, this also contains credentials.
When the user runs mvn verify again (without a mvn clean), this file becomes part of the final artifact.
If a developer were to publish this into Maven Central or any other remote repository (whether as a release or a snapshot) their credentials would be published without them knowing.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin | ≥ 3.2.1&&< 3.3.0 | 3.3.0org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin:3.3.0 |
Affected Products
maven archetypeapacheDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.apache.maven.plugins:maven-archetype-plugin to 3.3.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-2qq7-fch2-phqf is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Assume what was exposed is already known: rotate any credential, token or key that the affected component could return, restrict the endpoint to callers that genuinely need it, and strip sensitive fields from responses and error output at the boundary rather than relying on the client not to read them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-2qq7-fch2-phqf in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.