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Confluence ServerApplication · Atlassian

CVE-2023-22504

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-05-25
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 7.13.17 / 7.19.9 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable 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 Confluence Server allow remote attackers who have read permissions to a page, but not write permissions, to upload attachments via a Broken Access Control vulnerability in the attachments feature.

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 · moderate confidence

Atlassian Confluence Server contains a Broken Access Control vulnerability where users with only read permissions to a page can bypass permission checks and upload attachments, which should require write permissions. This allows privilege escalation through unauthorized file uploads.

MitigationApply the vendor patch from Atlassian for Confluence Server. Until patched, consider disabling or restricting the attachment upload feature for non-write-permission users.

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
Confluence ServerApplication
Affected:< 7.13.17>= 7.14.0, < 7.19.9>= 7.20.0, < 8.2.2

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
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/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. Identify installed Confluence Server version
    Access Confluence Administration > General Configuration > Confluence Version, or check the confluence.cfg.xml file in the <confluence-home> directory for the 'confluence.version' property
    Affected if The installed version falls into < 7.13.17, >= 7.14.0 and < 7.19.9, or >= 7.20.0 and < 8.2.2
  2. Verify attachment upload feature is accessible
    Log in as a user with only READ permissions to a specific page, then attempt to access the attachment upload endpoint (typically via the page's attachments section or REST API endpoint /pages/doattachfile.action)
    Affected if The upload interface or API accepts the request and allows file attachment without returning a permission denied error
  3. Confirm permission model configuration
    Navigate to Space Settings > Permissions for a test space and verify the space grants only 'View' permission to a test user, then attempt attachment upload as that user
    Affected if A user with ONLY 'View' or 'Read' permissions can successfully upload an attachment to a page in that space

If the Confluence Server version is within the affected ranges AND a read-only user can successfully upload attachments to pages they can only view, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2023-22504.

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 7.13.17 / 7.19.9 / 8.2.2 or later
Fixed in 7.13.177.19.98.2.2
Interim mitigation

Apply the vendor patch from Atlassian for Confluence Server. Until patched, consider disabling or restricting the attachment upload feature for non-write-permission users.

Recommended fix High confidence

Confluence Server 7.13.17, 7.19.9, or 8.2.2 (or later) depending on your current version branch

  1. 1. Back up your Confluence Server database and home directory before proceeding
  2. 2. Download the appropriate fixed version of Confluence Server for your current installation branch
  3. 3. Stop the Confluence Server service
  4. 4. Install the fixed version: For 7.13.x users, upgrade to 7.13.17 or later; For 7.14.x-7.19.x users, upgrade to 7.19.9 or later; For 7.20.x-8.2.x users, upgrade to 8.2.2 or later
  5. 5. Start the Confluence Server service
  6. 6. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the Confluence administration console and confirming the version number
  7. 7. Test that users without write permissions can no longer upload attachments
Caveat Review Atlassian's upgrade notes for your target version as there may be compatibility considerations with plugins, migrations, or configuration changes

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

Fix this in Confluence Server Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,570
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,512.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2023-22504 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data