ConfluenceApplication · Atlassian
CVE-2019-20406
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 · uneditedThe usage of Tomcat in Confluence on the Microsoft Windows operating system before version 7.0.5, and from version 7.1.0 before version 7.1.1 allows local system attackers who have permission to write a DLL file in a directory in the global path environmental variable variable to inject code & escalate their privileges via a DLL hijacking vulnerability.
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 confidenceA DLL hijacking vulnerability exists in the Tomcat component bundled with Confluence on Microsoft Windows. Local attackers with write access to any directory in the system PATH environment variable can place a malicious DLL that gets loaded by Tomcat during startup, enabling code execution and privilege escalation.
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
ConfluenceApplication
< 7.0.5
Confluence ServerApplication
= 7.1.0CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Confluence is installed on WindowsCheck if Confluence is installed by looking for the installation directory (typically C:\Atlassian\ApplicationData\Confluence or C:\Program Files\Atlassian\Confluence) and confirming the confluence.exe or service is presentAffected if Confluence is installed on Windows - this vulnerability only affects Windows installations
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Determine installed Confluence versionCheck the confluence version by examining the confluence\atlassian-product-info.json file or the confluence\VERSION file in the Confluence installation directory, or run 'sc query confluenceservice' and check the bin\version.sh scriptAffected if Version is less than 7.0.5, or version equals exactly 7.1.0
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Check Windows PATH environment for writable directoriesOpen Command Prompt and run 'echo %PATH%' to view the system PATH, then check permissions on each directory using 'icacls <directory>' to identify any directories where non-privileged users have Write or Modify permissionsAffected if Any directory in PATH is writable by the attacker's user account (standard user or low-privilege account)
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Verify Tomcat is being used by ConfluenceCheck for the presence of the 'tomcat' directory within the Confluence installation folder, typically found at <Confluence Install>\confluence\tomcat or within the app directory structureAffected if Tomcat component exists in the Confluence installation - the vulnerability is in the bundled Tomcat
A user is affected if Confluence is installed on Windows with version less than 7.0.5 or exactly 7.1.0 AND has writable directories in the system PATH that could be exploited for DLL hijacking.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor data7.0.5
Upgrade Confluence to version 7.0.5 or later, or version 7.1.1 or later. Review and sanitize the system PATH to remove untrusted directories, and enforce strict file permissions on PATH directories to prevent unauthorized DLL placement.
Fix this in Confluence
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,992.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2019-20406 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2019-20406 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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