CVE-2016-3101 Jenkins CVE debrief

Who should care

Jenkins administrators and security teams running the Extra Columns plugin before 1.17 should prioritize this issue, especially in environments where tooltip content may be user-influenced or rendered in browsers used for administrative tasks.

Technical summary

The vulnerability is a client-side XSS issue in the Extra Columns plugin. NVD maps it to CWE-79 and rates it with CVSS 3.1 vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N, indicating network reachability, low attack complexity, some required privileges, and user interaction. The vulnerable condition is specifically tied to tooltip content not being filtered through the configured markup formatter, with affected versions ending before 1.17.

Defensive priority

Medium. The issue does not indicate availability impact, but it can expose browser-side data and enable script execution in the context of affected Jenkins users. Prioritize remediation if the plugin is installed on production Jenkins instances or used by privileged operators.

Recommended defensive actions

• Upgrade the Jenkins Extra Columns plugin to version 1.17 or later.
• If immediate upgrading is not possible, remove or disable the plugin on exposed Jenkins instances until remediation is complete.
• Review Jenkins usage for any places where tooltip content may be user-controlled or rendered from untrusted input.
• Recheck administrative accounts and browser-side workflows that access affected Jenkins pages after remediation.
• Use the linked vendor advisory and NVD entry to confirm the fixed version and any deployment-specific guidance.

Evidence notes

Evidence used here is limited to the supplied CVE record and NVD metadata. The description states the XSS condition and the affected plugin range before 1.17. NVD supplies the CWE-79 mapping, the CVSS 3.1 vector, and the versionEndExcluding 1.17 criterion. The vendor advisory reference is Jenkins Security Advisory 2016-04-11.

Official resources