Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-22512

DoS in Atlassian Confluence Data Center 5.6 – 7.19.14

Published
16 January 2024
Modified
12 May 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 7.5
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
EPSS Score 0.14 96th percentile
Risk Priority 68 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-22512 is a high-severity Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400) vulnerability in Atlassian Confluence Data Center. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique OS Exhaustion Flood (T1499.001); ranked in the top 4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SC-5 (Denial-of-service Protection) and SC-6 (Resource Availability) — 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.

CVE-2023-22512 is a high-severity denial-of-service vulnerability affecting Confluence Data Center and Server, introduced in version 5.6.0. It carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 7.5 with the vector AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H, corresponding to CWE-400 and an NVD-CWE-noinfo entry. The flaw permits an unauthenticated network attacker to render a Confluence instance unavailable by exhausting resources, with no effect on confidentiality or integrity.

An unauthenticated remote attacker can trigger the condition over the network without user interaction, resulting in temporary or sustained disruption of the Confluence service and high impact to availability for all users of the affected instance.

Atlassian’s advisory directs customers to upgrade Confluence Data Center and Server to 7.19.14 or later, 8.5.1 or later, or any 8.6 release; instances already on 8.6 or newer require no action. Fixed releases and release notes are available from the vendor’s download center and documentation pages. The issue was disclosed through Atlassian’s Bug Bounty program. The associated EPSS score has remained flat at 0.1481 with no material increase after publication.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

This High severity DoS (Denial of Service) vulnerability was introduced in version 5.6.0 of Confluence Data Center and Server. With a CVSS Score of 7.5, this vulnerability allows an unauthenticated attacker to cause a resource to be unavailable for its…

more

intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a vulnerable host (Confluence instance) connected to a network, which has no impact to confidentiality, no impact to integrity, high impact to availability, and requires no user interaction. Atlassian recommends that Confluence Data Center and Server customers upgrade to latest version, if you are unable to do so, upgrade your instance to one of the specified supported fixed versions: Confluence Data Center and Server 7.19: Upgrade to a release greater than or equal to 7.19.14 Confluence Data Center and Server 8.5: Upgrade to a release greater than or equal to 8.5.1 Confluence Data Center and Server 8.6 or above: No need to upgrade, you're already on a patched version See the release notes (https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/confluence-release-notes-327.html ). You can download the latest version of Confluence Data Center and Server from the download center (https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence/download-archives ]). This vulnerability was reported via our Bug Bounty program.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1499.001 OS Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may launch a denial of service (DoS) attack targeting an endpoint's operating system (OS).
T1498 Network Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Network Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of targeted resources to users.
T1499 Endpoint Denial of Service Impact
Adversaries may perform Endpoint Denial of Service (DoS) attacks to degrade or block the availability of services to users.
T1499.002 Service Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target the different network services provided by systems to conduct a denial of service (DoS).
T1499.003 Application Exhaustion Flood Impact
Adversaries may target resource intensive features of applications to cause a denial of service (DoS), denying availability to those applications.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2026-21577Same product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center
CVE-2025-22166Same product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center
CVE-2023-22526Same product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center
CVE-2023-22527Same product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center
CVE-2024-21674Same product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center
CVE-2023-22503Same product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center
CVE-2021-26085Same product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center
CVE-2024-21673Same product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center
CVE-2023-22508Same product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center
CVE-2024-21690Same product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center

Affected Assets

atlassian
confluence data center
5.6 — 7.19.14 · 8.0.0 — 8.5.1
atlassian
confluence server
5.6 — 7.19.14 · 8.0.0 — 8.5.1

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SC-5 directly limits the effects of resource-exhaustion events that constitute uncontrolled consumption.

SC-6 enforces explicit allocation limits on resources, structurally preventing the weakness from occurring.

Process isolation confines resource consumption to separate domains, reducing blast radius without stopping the root flaw.

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.IR-04 mostly match
prevents

Explicitly requires monitoring and maintaining resource capacity, directly addressing uncontrolled consumption to preserve availability.

DE.CM-09 partial match
prevents

Continuous monitoring of computing resources can detect resource exhaustion but does not itself enforce allocation limits.

PR.IR-03 partial match
prevents

Resilience mechanisms such as avoiding single points of failure indirectly reduce impact of resource exhaustion.

PR.PS-01 partial match
prevents

Hardened configuration baselines can include resource quotas and limits that constrain consumption.

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.

finds

Resource-utilization monitoring and alerting on bottlenecks or overloads limits the impact of denial-of-service or resource-exhaustion attacks.

prevents

By continuously monitoring utilization, stress-testing peak loads, and maintaining documented plans to scale or throttle resources, the control directly limits an attacker’s ability to drive a system into uncontrolled resource exhaustion.

finds

Pre-agreed severity-based prioritization and resource allocation during incident triage reduce the likelihood that an attacker-induced resource exhaustion will overwhelm the organization before corrective action is taken.

mitigates

Business-continuity plans that include resource-management controls reduce the likelihood that an attacker can trigger uncontrolled resource consumption by forcing the system into a degraded or fallback state.

mitigates

Defining RTOs and capacity requirements for ICT services during business-impact analysis forces organizations to provision sufficient resources and throttling mechanisms, reducing the likelihood that an attacker can induce denial-of-service through uncontrolled resource consumption.

finds

Early notification of anomalous resource consumption or system malfunctions enables throttling or isolation before availability is lost.

References