GHSA-qp4f-2w67-c8hw
HIGHInbound TCP Agent Protocol/3 authentication bypass in Jenkins
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.
Blast Radius
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 2.213 and earlier, LTS 2.204.1 and earlier includes support for the Inbound TCP Agent Protocol/3 for communication between controller and agents. While this protocol has been deprecated in 2018 and was recently removed from Jenkins in 2.214, it could still easily be enabled in Jenkins LTS 2.204.1, 2.213, and older.
This protocol incorrectly reuses encryption parameters which allow an unauthenticated remote attacker to determine the connection secret. This secret can then be used to connect attacker-controlled Jenkins agents to the Jenkins controller.
Jenkins 2.204.2 no longer allows for the use of Inbound TCP Agent Protocol/3 by default. The system property jenkins.slaves.JnlpSlaveAgentProtocol3.ALLOW_UNSAFE can be set to true to allow enabling the Inbound TCP Agent Protocol/3 in Jenkins 2.204.2, but doing so is strongly discouraged.
Inbound TCP Agent Protocol/3 was removed completely from Jenkins 2.214 and will not be part of Jenkins LTS after the end of the 2.204.x line.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core | all versions | 2.204.2 |
| ☕Maven | org.jenkins-ci.main:jenkins-core | ≥ 2.205&&< 2.214 | 2.214 |
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. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
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 GHSA-qp4f-2w67-c8hw 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 pinpoints whether GHSA-qp4f-2w67-c8hw is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to GHSA-qp4f-2w67-c8hw. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-qp4f-2w67-c8hw in your dependencies?
O3 detects GHSA-qp4f-2w67-c8hw across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.