Chef IdentityApplication · Jenkins
CVE-2023-39155
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 Chef Identity Plugin 2.0.3 and earlier does not mask the user.pem key form field, increasing the potential for attackers to observe and capture it.
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 Chef Identity Plugin version 2.0.3 and earlier does not mask the user.pem private key form field in its configuration UI, causing the sensitive credential to be displayed in plain text and potentially exposed in the page source.
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
Chef IdentityApplication
<= 2.0.3CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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 Chef Identity Plugin is installedNavigate to Jenkins > Manage Jenkins > Manage Plugins > Installed tab and search for 'Chef Identity' in the list of installed pluginsAffected if The plugin appears in the installed plugins list
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Check installed plugin versionIn the installed plugins list, locate the Chef Identity plugin and note the Version column valueAffected if Version is 2.0.3 or earlier
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Access Chef Identity plugin configurationNavigate to Jenkins > Manage Jenkins > Configure System and locate the 'Chef Identity' section (or similar configuration area for the plugin)Affected if The configuration page loads and shows plugin settings
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Inspect user.pem field visibilityIn the Chef Identity configuration page, locate the field labeled 'user.pem' or similar private key field and observe whether its value is displayed in plain text (visible characters) or masked (dots or asterisks)Affected if The user.pem field displays the private key in plain text rather than being masked
You are affected if the Chef Identity Plugin version is 2.0.3 or earlier AND the user.pem configuration field is present and displays the private key in plain text instead of being masked.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpdate to a patched version of the Chef Identity Plugin when available, or avoid using the plugin until a fix is released. If the credential was exposed, consider rotating the user.pem key immediately.
Latest available version of Chef Identity plugin (verify via Jenkins plugin repository)
- Navigate to Manage Jenkins > Manage Plugins
- Select the 'Installed' tab and locate the Chef Identity plugin
- If an update is available, install the latest version of the Chef Identity plugin
- After updating, verify the user.pem key field is now properly masked in the plugin configuration
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
Fix this in Chef Identity
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 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 $1,696.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-39155 — 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-2023-39155 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