CVE-2021-26086
Path Traversal in Atlassian Jira Data Center ≤ 8.5.14
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:NSummary
CVE-2021-26086 is a medium-severity Path Traversal (CWE-22) vulnerability in Atlassian Jira Data Center. Its CVSS base score is 5.3 (Medium).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked in the top 0.0% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; CISA has added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
CVE-2021-26086 is a path traversal vulnerability in the /WEB-INF/web.xml endpoint of Atlassian Jira Server and Data Center. The flaw affects all versions before 8.5.14, versions 8.6.0 through 8.13.6, and versions 8.14.0 through 8.16.1, and is tracked under CWE-22 with a CVSS 3.1 score of 5.3.
Unauthenticated remote attackers can send crafted requests to read arbitrary files accessible to the application, achieving limited disclosure of sensitive information without any user interaction or privileges.
Atlassian has published details and fixes via JRASERVER-72695, while public exploit code is available and the issue appears in CISA's catalog of known exploited vulnerabilities.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2021-12907
Vulnerability Data
Affected versions of Atlassian Jira Server and Data Center allow remote attackers to read particular files via a path traversal vulnerability in the /WEB-INF/web.xml endpoint. The affected versions are before version 8.5.14, from version 8.6.0 before 8.13.6, and from version…
more
8.14.0 before 8.16.1.
- CWE(s)
- KEV Date Added
- 12 November 2024
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V5.3.2
Likely Mitigating Controls AI
Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.
Validates pathnames and filenames to prevent traversal outside intended directories.
Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Patching/maintenance can remediate known path-traversal flaws in deployed software (partial prevention of exploitability) but does nothing to stop the coding defect from being introduced in the first place.
PR.AA-05 defines and reviews access policies but does not address code-level pathname neutralization, so neither direction prevents CWE-22.
Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI
Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.
Security testing in development catches path traversal via static/dynamic analysis.
Secure SDLC mandates input validation and path sanitization that directly prevent path traversal.
Application security requirements include rules for safe file handling and canonicalization.
Secure architecture principles require least-privilege file access and directory isolation.
Secure coding standards explicitly forbid unsafe path construction and mandate safe APIs.
Information access restriction limits which files an application may read or write.