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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 14 Feb 2024. Known ransomware use
Confluence Data CenterApplication · Atlassian

CVE-2023-22527

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-01-16
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 8.5.4 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Ransomware High EPSS Public exploit 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
A template injection vulnerability on older versions of Confluence Data Center and Server allows an unauthenticated attacker to achieve RCE on an affected instance. Customers using an affected version must take immediate action. Most recent supported versions of Confluence Data Center and Server are not affected by this vulnerability as it was ultimately mitigated during regular version updates. However, Atlassian recommends that customers take care to install the latest version to protect their instances from non-critical vulnerabilities outlined in Atlassian’s January Security Bulletin.

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 template injection vulnerability in older versions of Confluence Data Center and Server allows an unauthenticated attacker to achieve remote code execution (RCE) on affected instances. The vulnerability leverages the template processing mechanism to execute arbitrary commands without authentication.

MitigationUpgrade Confluence Data Center and Server to the latest supported version to apply the mitigation. Organizations running affected older versions should take immediate action, as this is a critical unauthenticated RCE vulnerability.

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 Data CenterApplication
Affected:>= 8.0.0, < 8.5.4= 8.7.0
Confluence ServerApplication
Affected:>= 8.0.0, < 8.5.4

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
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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. Locate the installed Confluence version number
    Access the Confluence admin interface and navigate to the 'About' page (typically /about/confluence.html) or check the footer of any Confluence page, which displays the version. Alternatively, inspect the confluence.cfg.xml configuration file in the <confluence-install>/conf directory for the <buildNumber> or <version> elements.
    Affected if The displayed version falls within >= 8.0.0 and < 8.5.4, or equals exactly 8.7.0.
  2. Identify the Confluence edition type
    Determine whether the installation is Confluence Data Center or Confluence Server. This is typically visible on the About page or in the license information within the admin console under 'Licensing' or 'General Configuration'.
    Affected if The edition is Confluence Data Center (versions 8.0.0 through 8.5.3, or exactly 8.7.0) or Confluence Server (versions 8.0.0 through 8.5.3).
  3. Verify the application is exposed to unauthenticated access
    Confirm that the Confluence instance is accessible over the network without requiring authentication. Check network firewall rules and Confluence's security configuration to determine if the /login page or root endpoint accepts connections from untrusted sources.
    Affected if The instance allows unauthenticated HTTP requests to reach the login page or public endpoints, enabling an unauthenticated attacker to trigger the template injection.
  4. Review application logs for suspicious template injection patterns
    Examine Confluence logs (atlassian-confluence.log in the <confluence-install>/logs directory) for entries containing unusual OGNL expression patterns, stack traces mentioning 'OGNL', or unexpected code execution indicators around the time of potential exploitation.
    Affected if Logs show OGNL evaluation errors, suspicious expressions containing '${' or '%{', or evidence of arbitrary code execution attempts.

You are affected if your Confluence installation is Data Center or Server edition with version 8.0.0 through 8.5.3, or exactly version 8.7.0, and the instance is network-accessible to unauthenticated users.

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 8.5.4 or later
Fixed in 8.5.4
Interim mitigation

Upgrade Confluence Data Center and Server to the latest supported version to apply the mitigation. Organizations running affected older versions should take immediate action, as this is a critical unauthenticated RCE vulnerability.

Recommended fix High confidence

Confluence Data Center/Server 8.5.4 or later (or 8.7.1+ if currently on 8.7.0)

  1. 1. Back up your Confluence database and home directory before upgrading.
  2. 2. Download Confluence Data Center or Server version 8.5.4 or later (or 8.7.1 or later if currently on 8.7.0).
  3. 3. Stop the Confluence service.
  4. 4. Run the installer or extract the archive to upgrade Confluence.
  5. 5. Start the Confluence service and verify the instance is operational.
  6. 6. Confirm the version by navigating to About Confluence in the administration console.
Caveat Review Atlassian's upgrade notes for potential configuration or compatibility changes between major versions; test upgrade in staging environment first

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

Fix this in Confluence Data Center Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,480
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,968.

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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-2023-22527 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