Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:NSummary
CVE-2024-21678 is a high-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Atlassian Confluence Data Center. Its CVSS base score is 8.5 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Browser Session Hijacking (T1185); ranked at the 39th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SA-11 (Developer Testing and Evaluation) and SI-10 (Information Input Validation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2024-19294
Vulnerability Data
This High severity Stored XSS vulnerability was introduced in version 2.7.0 of Confluence Data Center. This Stored XSS vulnerability, with a CVSS Score of 8.5, allows an authenticated attacker to execute arbitrary HTML or JavaScript code on a victims browser…
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which has high impact to confidentiality, low impact to integrity, no impact to availability, and requires no user interaction. Data Center Atlassian recommends that Confluence Data Center customers upgrade to the latest version. If you are unable to do so, upgrade your instance to one of the specified supported fixed versions: ||Affected versions||Fixed versions|| |from 8.7.0 to 8.7.1|8.8.0 recommended or 8.7.2| |from 8.6.0 to 8.6.1|8.8.0 recommended| |from 8.5.0 to 8.5.4 LTS|8.8.0 recommended or 8.5.5 LTS or 8.5.6 LTS| |from 8.4.0 to 8.4.5|8.8.0 recommended or 8.5.6 LTS| |from 8.3.0 to 8.3.4|8.8.0 recommended or 8.5.6 LTS| |from 8.2.0 to 8.2.3|8.8.0 recommended or 8.5.6 LTS| |from 8.1.0 to 8.1.4|8.8.0 recommended or 8.5.6 LTS| |from 8.0.0 to 8.0.4|8.8.0 recommended or 8.5.6 LTS| |from 7.20.0 to 7.20.3|8.8.0 recommended or 8.5.6 LTS| |from 7.19.0 to 7.19.17 LTS|8.8.0 recommended or 8.5.6 LTS or 7.19.18 LTS or 7.19.19 LTS| |from 7.18.0 to 7.18.3|8.8.0 recommended or 8.5.6 LTS or 7.19.19 LTS| |from 7.17.0 to 7.17.5|8.8.0 recommended or 8.5.6 LTS or 7.19.19 LTS| |Any earlier versions|8.8.0 recommended or 8.5.6 LTS or 7.19.19 LTS| Server Atlassian recommends that Confluence Server customers upgrade to the latest 8.5.x LTS version. If you are unable to do so, upgrade your instance to one of the specified supported fixed versions: ||Affected versions||Fixed versions|| |from 8.5.0 to 8.5.4 LTS|8.5.5 LTS or 8.5.6 LTS recommended | |from 8.4.0 to 8.4.5|8.5.6 LTS recommended| |from 8.3.0 to 8.3.4|8.5.6 LTS recommended| |from 8.2.0 to 8.2.3|8.5.6 LTS recommended| |from 8.1.0 to 8.1.4|8.5.6 LTS recommended| |from 8.0.0 to 8.0.4|8.5.6 LTS recommended| |from 7.20.0 to 7.20.3|8.5.6 LTS recommended| |from 7.19.0 to 7.19.17 LTS|8.5.6 LTS recommended or 7.19.18 LTS or 7.19.19 LTS| |from 7.18.0 to 7.18.3|8.5.6 LTS recommended or 7.19.19 LTS| |from 7.17.0 to 7.17.5|8.5.6 LTS recommended or 7.19.19 LTS| |Any earlier versions|8.5.6 LTS recommended or 7.19.19 LTS| See the release notes ([https://confluence.atlassian.com/doc/confluence-release-notes-327.html]). You can download the latest version of Confluence Data Center 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
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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V1.1.2V1.3.2
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Developer testing and evaluation can discover missing or incorrect input neutralization through targeted web-application tests.
Input validation directly enforces neutralization of untrusted data before it reaches web output generation.
Output filtering can catch or sanitize unneutralized script content before it is served to users.
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.
Secure SDLC practices directly target introduction of XSS via coding standards/testing (mostly), yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors unaddressed (partial).
Patching and EOL replacement can remediate known XSS instances in libraries or frameworks (partial) but do nothing to enforce input neutralization in application code (none).
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.
Secure-coding testing and automated code-analysis tools are applied to detect improper neutralization of script-related content during web-page generation.
Knowledge exchange on emerging attack techniques and patches reduces the likelihood that cross-site scripting flaws remain unaddressed in deployed applications.
Operational indicators of compromise for web-application attacks can be incorporated into WAF or input-filtering rules, lowering the likelihood that unsanitized data reaches the browser.
Requiring language-specific secure-coding standards and automated scanning during the SDLC catches missing output encoding or improper neutralization of untrusted data before the software reaches production.
Secure-coding standards, SAST scans and removal of insecure code samples together eliminate the failure to neutralize script content that produces cross-site scripting flaws.
Webpage malware scanning and block-listing of known malicious sites reduce the likelihood that reflected or stored script payloads reach a user’s browser.