Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-22527

Atlassian Confluence Data Center 8.0.0 – 8.5.4

CISA KEVActive ExploitationEUVD ExploitedPublic PoCRansomware-linked
Published
16 January 2024
Modified
24 October 2025
KEV Added
24 January 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.8
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.99 100.0th percentile
Risk Priority 97 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-22527 is a critical-severity Injection (CWE-74) vulnerability in Atlassian Confluence Data Center. Its CVSS base score is 9.8 (Critical).

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.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — 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 template injection vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2023-22527 and assigned CWE-74, affects older versions of Atlassian Confluence Data Center and Server. The flaw permits remote code execution and received a CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.8, reflecting network-accessible attack vectors that require no authentication or user interaction.

An unauthenticated attacker can supply malicious template input over the network to achieve full remote code execution on an unpatched instance, resulting in complete compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Atlassian states that the vulnerability was addressed through regular version updates, leaving current supported releases unaffected. The vendor’s January security bulletin directs customers to install the latest Confluence Data Center or Server release to protect against this issue and other non-critical vulnerabilities.

Public exploit code has been posted to PacketStorm, and the EPSS score stands at 0.9435 with a recorded peak of 0.9746, indicating sustained exploitation interest after disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

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…

more

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.

CWE(s)
CWE-74
KEV Date Added
24 January 2024

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1221 Template Injection Stealth
Adversaries may create or modify references in user document templates to conceal malicious code or force authentication attempts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1659 Content Injection Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access and continuously communicate with victims by injecting malicious content into systems through online network traffic.
attack.mitre.org →
T1674 Input Injection Execution
Adversaries may simulate keystrokes on a victim’s computer by various means to perform any type of action on behalf of the user, such as launching the command interpreter using keyboard shortcuts, typing an inline script to be executed,…
attack.mitre.org →
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-22522Same product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center
CVE-2019-11581Same vendor: Atlassianboth on KEV
CVE-2025-20281Shared CWE-74both on KEV
CVE-2019-2725Shared CWE-74both on KEV
CVE-2020-8468Shared CWE-74both on KEV
CVE-2020-17496Shared CWE-74both on KEV
CVE-2019-17558Shared CWE-74both on KEV
CVE-2025-20337Shared CWE-74both on KEV
CVE-2013-2251Shared CWE-74both on KEV
CVE-2022-27924Shared CWE-74both on KEV

Affected Assets

atlassian
confluence data center
8.7.0 · 8.0.0 — 8.5.4
atlassian
confluence server
8.0.0 — 8.5.4

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

—

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

—

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

—

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.2.1
  • V1.2.3
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match

SI-10 directly requires validation of information inputs to reject malformed or special-element content before it reaches downstream parsers.

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.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require input validation and output encoding that prevent injection flaws.

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.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Security testing in development catches injection vulnerabilities before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging supports detection of injection attempts but does not prevent the weakness.

A.8.16 Monitoring activities partial match
finds

Monitoring activities can identify active injection attacks after they occur.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and output encoding that directly prevent injection flaws.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against injection attacks in software design.

A.8.27 Secure system architecture and engineering principles partial match
prevents

Secure architecture principles reduce injection surfaces but do not prescribe specific neutralization techniques.

References