Jenkins job hangs forever doing cvs update.

A recursive directory causes job to hang forever.
The cvs command shown in console log is:
'cvs update -d -P -r <branchtag> <mod>'
A previous build job created symlinks to . in some directories in checkout area.

Using strace can see process is recursing into directory to multiple levels . . . it is hitting an error but just seems to take forever . . . not sure if jobs will ever end by selves . . . posting stop to jenkins job doesn't work, the job remains running until jenkins itself is restarted OR process killed (which brings down jenkins).

The error: ELOOP (Too many levels of symbolic links)

strace fragment: (misc is a symlink to .)

stat64("/var/lib/jenkins/jobs/buildjobname/workspace/work/projectname/module/something/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/python/python/misc/java/java/python/java/inc/misc/inc/something.py",

{st_mode=S_IFREG|0664, st_size=3749, ...}

) = 0
stat64("/var/lib/jenkins/jobs/buildjobname/workspace/work/projectname/module/something/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/python/python/misc/java/java/python/java/inc/misc/inc/something",

{st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=345, ...}

) = 0
stat64("/var/lib/jenkins/jobs/buildjobname/workspace/work/projectname/module/something/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/python/python/misc/java/java/python/java/inc/misc/inc/somethingelse",

{st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=227, ...}

) = 0
stat64("/var/lib/jenkins/jobs/buildjobname/workspace/work/projectname/module/something/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/misc/python/python/misc/java/java/python/java/inc/misc/inc/misc", 0x66b18060) = -1 ELOOP (Too many levels of symbolic links)

CVS Plugin 2.11
http://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/CVS+Plugin
Jenkins ver. 1.562

This problem with git plugin seems to have been a similar problem:
https://issues.jenkins-ci.org/browse/JENKINS-17186
Linux: if there is a recursive directory within the git repo you're building, the initial checkout will fail badly