Bitbucket Auto Unapprove PluginPlugin / extension · Atlassian
CVE-2017-16857
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedIt is possible to bypass the bitbucket auto-unapprove plugin via minimal brute-force because it is relying on asynchronous events on the back-end. This allows an attacker to merge any code into unsuspecting repositories. This affects all versions of the auto-unapprove plugin, however since the auto-unapprove plugin is not bundled with Bitbucket Server it does not affect any particular version of Bitbucket.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · moderate confidenceThe Bitbucket auto-unapprove plugin has a race condition vulnerability where its approval checks rely on asynchronous backend events, allowing an attacker to bypass the unapproval mechanism through minimal brute-force timing attacks. This enables unauthorized code to be merged into repositories by exploiting the window between when a pull request is modified and when the async event processes the unapproval.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Bitbucket Auto Unapprove PluginPlugin / extension
= 1.0.0= 1.1.0= 1.2.0= 2.0.1= 2.0.2= 2.0.4= 2.1.1= 2.1.3= 2.2.0= 3.0.0CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- High
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if the auto-unapprove plugin is installedNavigate to Bitbucket administration and inspect the installed add-ons or plugins list. Look for an add-on named 'Auto Unapprove' or similar.Affected if The Auto Unapprove plugin appears in the installed add-ons list
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Identify the plugin versionIn the Bitbucket add-on management interface, locate the version information for the Auto Unapprove plugin. Compare against the affected versions: 1.0.0, 1.1.0, 1.2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.0.4, 2.1.1, 2.1.3, 2.2.0, 3.0.0Affected if The installed version matches any of the listed affected versions exactly
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Verify the plugin is enabled for pull request workflowsExamine the plugin configuration settings to confirm it is actively enforcing unapproval rules on pull requests rather than being disabled or in passive modeAffected if The plugin is enabled and actively processing pull request events
You are affected if the Auto Unapprove plugin is installed, enabled, and running one of the specific affected versions listed.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataDisable or remove the auto-unapprove plugin until a patch is available that implements synchronous validation of approval state before merge operations. Implement proper atomic check-and-set operations instead of relying on async events.
Fix this in Bitbucket Auto Unapprove Plugin
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,808.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-16857 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-16857 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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