Common Vulnerabilities in CI/CD Infrastructure

Common Vulnerabilities in CI/CD Infrastructure

Misconfigured access controls represent one of the most prevalent vulnerabilities in CI/CD environments. Overly permissive permissions on repositories, build systems, or deployment tools can allow unauthorized users to modify code, alter build processes, or deploy malicious applications. Default credentials, shared accounts, and lack of multi-factor authentication compound these access control issues.

Secrets management failures create critical vulnerabilities throughout the pipeline. Hard-coded credentials in source code, unencrypted storage of API keys, and improper handling of certificates expose sensitive information to potential attackers. Build logs, test outputs, and deployment configurations often inadvertently contain secrets that can be harvested by attackers with access to CI/CD systems.

Supply chain vulnerabilities through compromised dependencies pose increasingly serious threats. Modern applications rely on thousands of third-party libraries and components, any of which could contain vulnerabilities or malicious code. Without proper dependency scanning and management, pipelines can unknowingly build and deploy compromised applications. The speed of automated deployment can amplify the impact of supply chain attacks.