Exploited

CVE-2022-26138

Atlassian Confluence Server / Data Center · Collaboration, telephony and video conferencing

Atlassian Questions For Confluence App Hard-coded Credentials Vulnerability

At a glance

Exploited. Added to CISA’s catalog of exploited vulnerabilities on July 29, 2022.

Affected product: Atlassian Confluence Server / Data Center (category Collaboration, telephony and video conferencing, indicative classification). Name in CISA’s catalog: Atlassian Confluence.

What should I do?

Apply the security update from Atlassian.

Deadline set by CISA for US federal agencies: 21 days (due August 19, 2022). It only binds those agencies, but it is a useful measure of urgency.

Atlassian security advisories page (general page, not the advisory for this vulnerability)
The vendor’s specific advisory is listed in the NVD references: CVE-2022-26138 on the NVD website.

Original text of the required action (CISA)

Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Timeline

July 20, 2022 Vulnerability published Publication date (NVD)
July 29, 2022 Exploitation confirmed Added to CISA’s KEV catalog
August 19, 2022 CISA deadline Remediation deadline set for US federal agencies

The facts, with their sources

Exploitation confirmed: Yes, on July 29, 2022 Date added to the catalog of exploited vulnerabilities. Exploitation itself may have started earlier. Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
Ransomware: No known use to date That does not guarantee it is not being used: the information is not public. Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
Hunt for compromise: Not requested by CISA Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
CISA required action: Apply the security update from Atlassian. Rewritten by this site from CISA’s original text. Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
CISA deadline: August 19, 2022, 21 days Set for US federal agencies: a measure of urgency, not an obligation elsewhere. Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
Vulnerability published: July 20, 2022 Source: National Vulnerability Database (NVD), collected September 29, 2026 at 15:00 UTC
Product according to CISA: Atlassian Confluence Filed by this site under “Collaboration, telephony and video conferencing” (indicative classification). Source: KEV catalog, collected September 29, 2026 at 14:57 UTC
CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Technical detail of the score: attack vector, complexity, impact. Source: National Vulnerability Database (NVD), collected September 29, 2026 at 15:00 UTC

Severity and activity

9.8 / 10 CVSS severity: critical

Score from the NVD. Collected Sep 29, 2026.

— Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS)

FIRST’s EPSS model. Since exploitation is already confirmed, this figure is mostly useful to compare activity. Collected Sep 29, 2026.

Description

The Atlassian Questions For Confluence app for Confluence Server and Data Center creates a Confluence user account in the confluence-users group with the username disabledsystemuser and a hardcoded password. A remote, unauthenticated attacker with knowledge of the hardcoded password could exploit this to log into Confluence and access all content accessible to users in the confluence-users group. This user account is created when installing versions 2.7.34, 2.7.35, and 3.0.2 of the app.

Atlassian Questions For Confluence App has hard-coded credentials, exposing the username and password in plaintext. A remote unauthenticated attacker can use these credentials to log into Confluence and access all content accessible to users in the confluence-users group.

Summary from CISA (KEV catalog).

CERT-FR advisories

No advisory among the latest CERT-FR publications this site follows. That does not mean there are none.

Information reused under the Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab); the date of last update is shown for each advisory. This site is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by ANSSI.

Sources for this page

CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, required action, deadline, ransomware.
NVD (NIST): CVSS severity, publication date, description, vendor references.
EPSS (FIRST): probability of exploitation.
CERT-FR: advisories and alerts (in French).
Brand and category: indicative classification by this site (method).