CVE-2025-24355: Updatecli Vulnerability and Its Impact on Maven Credentials

 Updatecli Vulnerability and Its Impact on Maven Credentials

CVE-2025-24355 

CVE-2025-24355 is a critical vulnerability identified in Updatecli, a tool designed for applying file update strategies. This vulnerability allows for the potential exposure of private Maven repository credentials in application logs during unsuccessful retrieval operations. The issue arises specifically when Updatecli is configured with basic authentication credentials to access a Maven source, and a failure occurs—such as providing incorrect coordinates or attempting to retrieve a non-existent artifact or version. In such scenarios, the credentials are logged in clear text, posing a significant security risk. (Jan 24,2025)

Vulnerability Details

• Affected Versions: Prior to version 0.93.0 of Updatecli.
• Nature of the Vulnerability: Credentials are leaked in application execution logs when retrieval operations fail.
• Impact: User credentials or tokens used for authenticating against private Maven repositories can be exposed in console output or CI logs, which could be accessed by unauthorized users.

Mitigation

The vulnerability was patched in version 0.93.0 of Updatecli, which ensures that credentials are properly sanitized even in the event of a failure during the Maven repository access attempts. Users are strongly advised to upgrade to this version or later to protect against potential credential leaks.

Sample Scenarios

Scenario 1: Failed Artifact Retrieval

Imagine a scenario where a developer is using Updatecli to fetch a specific version of an artifact from a private Maven repository. If the developer mistakenly specifies an incorrect artifact ID or version number, the retrieval operation will fail. In versions prior to 0.93.0, the basic authentication credentials used for accessing the Maven repository would be logged in plain text within the application logs:

text
ERROR: Failed to retrieve artifact com.example:my-artifact:1.0.0
Credentials used: username:password

This log entry could be accessed by anyone with access to the logs, potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive resources.

Scenario 2: Continuous Integration Pipeline Failure

In a CI/CD pipeline that utilizes Updatecli, if an automated job fails due to an invalid configuration for Maven sources, the same leakage of credentials occurs. For instance, if a CI job is configured to run Updatecli commands and encounters an error due to misconfiguration:

text
[INFO] Executing Updatecli...
[ERROR] Failed to fetch from Maven repository
Credentials used: user:secretpassword

In this scenario, if the CI logs are not adequately secured, attackers could exploit these logs to gain unauthorized access.

Conclusion

CVE-2025-24355 highlights a significant security oversight in how sensitive information is handled during error conditions in Updatecli. The exposure of private credentials can lead to severe security breaches if not addressed promptly. Users of Updatecli should ensure they are running version 0.93.0 or later and implement best practices for log management and security to mitigate risks associated with credential exposure.