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Data CenterApplication · Atlassian

CVE-2017-18113

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-08-02
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.18.1 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 · unedited
The DefaultOSWorkflowConfigurator class in Jira Server and Jira Data Center before version 8.18.1 allows remote attackers who can trick a system administrator to import their malicious workflow to execute arbitrary code via a Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability. The vulnerability allowed for various problematic OSWorkflow classes to be used as part of workflows. The fix for this issue blocks usage of unsafe conditions, validators, functions and registers that are build-in into OSWorkflow library and other Jira dependencies. Atlassian-made functions or functions provided by 3rd party plugins are not affected by this fix.

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 confidence

A Remote Code Execution vulnerability in Jira's DefaultOSWorkflowConfigurator class allows attackers to inject malicious OSWorkflow components (conditions, validators, functions, registers) by tricking a system administrator into importing a specially crafted workflow. The fix in Jira 8.18.1 blocks usage of unsafe built-in OSWorkflow library classes while preserving Atlassian-made and third-party plugin functions.

MitigationUpgrade Jira Server or Jira Data Center to version 8.18.1 or later. Until patched, exercise extreme caution with workflow imports and only accept workflows from trusted sources.

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
Data CenterApplication
Affected:< 8.18.1
JiraApplication
Affected:< 8.18.1

CVSS 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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Jira version
    Navigate to Administration > System > Troubleshooting and support > System info, or call the /rest/api/2/serverInfo API endpoint, or check the <jira-install>/atlassian-jira/WEB-INF/classes/application-info.xml file
    Affected if The displayed version is earlier than 8.18.1 (for example, 8.17.0, 8.10.0, 7.x, etc.)
  2. Identify imported custom workflows
    Navigate to Administration > Issues > Workflows > View workflows, or inspect XML workflow descriptor files in the <jira-home>/workflows/ directory
    Affected if Any custom workflows are present that were imported from external sources rather than created through the Jira UI
  3. Check for recent workflow imports
    Review Jira audit logs under Administration > System > Audit logs, filtering for events containing 'workflow' and 'import'
    Affected if Workflow import events exist from within the past 90 days, especially from untrusted sources
  4. Verify workflow XML for unsafe OSWorkflow classes
    Export any custom workflows and inspect the XML descriptors for references to com.opensymphony.workflow.* or other native OSWorkflow classes in <condition>, <validator>, <function>, or <register> elements
    Affected if The workflow XML contains references to raw OSWorkflow library classes rather than only Atlassian-built or plugin-provided components

A user is affected if their Jira version is below 8.18.1 AND they have imported or could import custom workflow definitions, as the vulnerability allows RCE via malicious workflow components.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 8.18.1 or later
Fixed in 8.18.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Jira Server or Jira Data Center to version 8.18.1 or later. Until patched, exercise extreme caution with workflow imports and only accept workflows from trusted sources.

Recommended fix High confidence

8.18.1

  1. Upgrade Jira Server or Jira Data Center to version 8.18.1 or later to remediate this vulnerability
  2. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the Jira version in About Jira
Caveat Custom workflows using certain OSWorkflow built-in conditions, validators, functions, or registers may need to be updated as these are now blocked for security reasons

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Data Center Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
18.0 hours of engineering $3,120
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-18113 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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