Anchore Container Image ScannerApplication · Jenkins
CVE-2019-16542
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 · uneditedJenkins Anchore Container Image Scanner Plugin 1.0.19 and earlier stores credentials unencrypted in job config.xml files on the Jenkins master where they can be viewed by users with Extended Read permission, or access to the master file system.
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 · high confidenceThe Jenkins Anchore Container Image Scanner Plugin versions 1.0.19 and earlier stores credentials unencrypted in plain text within job config.xml files on the Jenkins master. Users with Extended Read permission on Jenkins jobs or anyone with file system access to the Jenkins master can view these credentials in plain text, leading to credential disclosure.
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
Anchore Container Image ScannerApplication
<= 1.0.19CVSS 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
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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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Verify Anchore plugin is installedNavigate to Manage Jenkins > Manage Plugins > Installed tab and search for 'Anchore Container Image Scanner', or check the plugin directory $JENKINS_HOME/plugins/ for the anchore-plugin folderAffected if The Anchore plugin is present in the Jenkins installation
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Check Anchore plugin versionIn Manage Jenkins > Manage Plugins > Installed tab, find the Anchore plugin and note the version number displayedAffected if The installed version is 1.0.19 or earlier (versions 1.0.19 and below are vulnerable)
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Identify jobs using Anchore pluginSearch for job config.xml files in $JENKINS_HOME/jobs/*/config.xml and look for '<anchore>' or 'Anchore' configuration sections, or use Jenkins UI to review job configurations for Anchore build stepsAffected if Jobs contain Anchore plugin configuration, indicating credentials may be stored
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Inspect job config.xml for unencrypted credentialsOpen job config.xml files and search for credential-related fields under the Anchore configuration section - look for plain text password, username, or API token valuesAffected if Credentials appear in plain text (not base64 encoded or obscured) within the Anchore configuration section of config.xml
A user is affected if the Anchore Container Image Scanner plugin version 1.0.19 or earlier is installed AND jobs using this plugin have credentials stored in plain text within config.xml files.
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 dataUpgrade to Anchore Plugin version 1.0.20 or later which implements proper credential encryption. As immediate workarounds, restrict Extended Read permission to only necessary users and limit physical and logical access to the Jenkins master file system.
Fix this in Anchore Container Image Scanner
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-16542 — 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-2019-16542 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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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data