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Jira Software Data CenterApplication · Atlassian

CVE-2021-41311

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2021-12-08
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.19.1 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
Affected versions of Atlassian Jira Server and Data Center allow attackers with access to an administrator account that has had its access revoked to modify projects' Users & Roles settings, via a Broken Authentication vulnerability in the /plugins/servlet/project-config/PROJECT/roles endpoint. The affected versions are before version 8.19.1.

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

This is a broken authentication vulnerability in Atlassian Jira Server and Data Center where users who previously had administrator access but whose access has been revoked can still modify project Users & Roles settings via the /plugins/servlet/project-config/PROJECT/roles endpoint. The vulnerability affects versions before 8.19.1, indicating that session or token revocation is not properly enforced after administrator access is removed.

MitigationUpgrade Jira Server and Data Center to version 8.19.1 or later to patch this vulnerability. As an immediate mitigation, terminate all active sessions for users whose access has been revoked.

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
Jira Software Data CenterApplication
Affected:< 8.19.1

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

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

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 Jira Administration > System > Troubleshooting and support tools > System Info, or check the atlassian-jira/WEB-INF/classes/application.properties file for the 'jira.version' property
    Affected if The installed version is 8.19.0 or earlier (any version before 8.19.1)
  2. Identify users with revoked administrator access
    Review the Jira audit log (Administration > System > Audit Log) for users whose administrator permissions were removed, and cross-reference with the list of currently active sessions in Administration > Session Management
    Affected if Any user whose admin access was revoked still has an active session in the system
  3. Verify session termination for former admins
    In Administration > Security > Session Management, check for active sessions belonging to users who previously held the 'Jira Administrators' global permission but no longer hold it
    Affected if Former administrators have active sessions that were not terminated when their access was revoked
  4. Test project roles endpoint access
    Attempt to access /plugins/servlet/project-config/PROJECT/roles using a user account that previously had administrator access but has since had that access removed (replace PROJECT with an actual project key)
    Affected if A user without current admin privileges can still modify project roles settings via this endpoint

A user is affected if they run Jira Data Center version 8.19.0 or earlier AND have any users whose administrator access was revoked but whose sessions remained active.

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 8.19.1 or later
Fixed in 8.19.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Jira Server and Data Center to version 8.19.1 or later to patch this vulnerability. As an immediate mitigation, terminate all active sessions for users whose access has been revoked.

Recommended fix High confidence

8.19.1

  1. Upgrade Jira Software Data Center to version 8.19.1 or later
Caveat Review Atlassian upgrade documentation for any migration considerations before applying

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

Fix this in Jira Software Data Center Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,500
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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-2021-41311 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
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