Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2022-0540 is a critical-severity Improper Authentication (CWE-287) vulnerability in Atlassian Jira Service Management. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.2% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-3 (Access Enforcement) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary
Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.
A vulnerability in the Jira Seraph authentication component permits remote attackers to bypass login checks by submitting a crafted HTTP request. The flaw affects Atlassian Jira Server and Data Center releases prior to 8.13.18, from 8.14.0 through 8.20.5, and from 8.21.0 through 8.21.x, as well as Jira Service Management Server and Data Center releases prior to 4.13.18, from 4.14.0 through 4.20.5, and from 4.21.0 through 4.21.x. The issue carries a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8 and is tracked under CWE-287.
An unauthenticated attacker with network access can exploit the flaw to obtain full administrative control of the affected Jira instance, including the ability to read, modify, or delete any data and to execute arbitrary actions within the application. No user interaction or credentials are required, and the attack can be performed over the network with low complexity.
Atlassian’s security advisory and the linked Jira tickets JRASERVER-73650 and JSDSERVER-11224 direct administrators to upgrade to the fixed releases listed in the advisory (8.13.18, 8.20.6, 8.22.0 or later for Jira; 4.13.18, 4.20.6, 4.22.0 or later for Jira Service Management). The EPSS score remains elevated near its recorded peak of 0.9278.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2022-15662
Vulnerability Data
A vulnerability in Jira Seraph allows a remote, unauthenticated attacker to bypass authentication by sending a specially crafted HTTP request. This affects Atlassian Jira Server and Data Center versions before 8.13.18, versions 8.14.0 and later before 8.20.6, and versions 8.21.0…
more
and later before 8.22.0. This also affects Atlassian Jira Service Management Server and Data Center versions before 4.13.18, versions 4.14.0 and later before 4.20.6, and versions 4.21.0 and later before 4.22.0.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
Likely ATT&CK TechniquesAI
Techniques this vulnerability likely enables, inferred from its description, weakness type, and attributed-actor tradecraft. Confidence is per-technique.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
—
- 8 hardening rules · 5 OS baselines
V6.4.4V6.5.4V6.5.5V6.5.7
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires timely application of vendor patches that close the Seraph authentication-bypass flaw.
Enforces that every request must be authenticated and authorized before any Jira resource is accessed, blocking the crafted-request bypass.
Mandates identification and authentication of organizational users prior to granting access, directly countering the missing or bypassed authentication check.
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.
PR.AA-03 directly enforces authentication mechanisms that eliminate most improper-authentication defects, yet CWE-287 spans additional vectors (missing checks, flawed protocols, session handling) that one control does not fully close.
PR.AA-04 directly enables verification of identity assertions (mostly preventing CWE-287 in that scope) yet leaves many other authentication failure modes unaddressed (only partial prevention overall).
PR.AA-01 supplies and governs credentials/tokens that authentication relies on, removing some weak-credential cases, yet leaves verification logic, missing checks, and protocol flaws untouched.
PR.AA-02 ensures valid enrollment and unique credential binding, which reduces some improper-auth risks at issuance time but leaves runtime claim verification untouched, so each direction only partially addresses the other.
PR.PS-01 can enforce auth-related settings via hardened baselines and default reviews, blocking some config-based instances of CWE-287, yet leaves code-level auth flaws untouched so neither direction reaches mostly.
Patching/maintenance can remediate some known auth vulnerabilities after deployment (partial forward) but does not address the design or implementation of authentication logic itself (none reverse).
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.
Requiring authentication methods whose strength matches the sensitivity of the data and mandating multi-factor authentication directly blocks attempts to access resources without proving identity.
Verifying user identity before issuing replacement credentials and forcing changes after compromise reduces the likelihood that authentication bypass can be achieved through stolen or weak credentials.
Mandating segregated approval and oversight for non-human identities reduces the chance that weak or orphaned credentials can be exploited for unauthorized authentication.
Requiring authentication mechanisms and technical parameters for secure connections ensures that network services verify user identity before granting access, preventing exploitation of missing or weak authentication.
Security requirements specified early and verified through testing drive the consistent implementation of authentication mechanisms, decreasing the likelihood that authentication steps are omitted or incorrectly applied.
Defining the required level of trust in entity identity and the authentication mechanisms to achieve it ensures that authentication is explicitly addressed rather than omitted.