Threats / Atlassian / CVE-2021-26084
CVE-2021-26084
· EUVD no mirror located
· GCVE no mirror located
Verified 2026-08-04
Atlassian Confluence Server and Data Center vulnerability
Atlassian Confluence Server and Data Center are vulnerable to unauthenticated OGNL injection, allowing remote code execution. This vulnerability has been actively exploited in ransomware campaigns.
Verdict
Today item, not a backlog item.
An unauthenticated attacker can inject malicious Object-Graph Navigation Language expressions into Confluence, achieving arbitrary code execution on the server. The high EPSS score and confirmed wild exploitation indicate immediate risk to unpatched instances.
CISA KEV Yes · 2021-11-034Ransomware use Flagged4EPSS 0.99999 (verify live)5Exploit Weaponized · public PoC6CVSS 9.8 (CISA)3CISA SSVC Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Impact: total3
01
Is it exploitable?
— the evidence, ranked above the scoreExploit available
Fully weaponized — public exploit code is cataloged for this vulnerability.We link the existence of the exploit; we do not host or redistribute payloads.
Reported exploitation
1001 independent public reports of in-the-wild exploitation are cataloged.Distinct reporting sources (vendor, incident response, government); open them for the underlying claims.
Exploited in the wild
Listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog (added 2021-11-03), flagged for known ransomware use.
Probability (EPSS)
EPSS 0.99999 — modeled likelihood of exploitation activity.EPSS is a daily-changing model output — open the source for today's value.
Severity / affected
CVSS 9.8 (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) · Affected: Atlassian, Confluence Server and Data Center. Confirm exact fixed builds in the vendor advisory.CVSS — CISA-assigned via the ADP container (CVE.org), version 3.1; the CNA left no metrics, so CISA's own score is used ahead of NVD.
Weakness (CWE)
Mapped to CWE-917 Expression Language Injection — weakness family: Injection.CWE assignment from the public NVD record (may be stale); the weakness class drives how the flaw is exploited.
CISA SSVC (triage disposition)
Exploitation: active · Automatable: yes · Technical Impact: totalCISA's own stakeholder-specific triage inputs, published in the CVE record (CISA Coordinator role). NOTE: this is CISA's three decision points; the final Act/Attend/Track decision also requires a Mission & Well-being input not published here, so no overall decision is asserted.
Currency of the record
CISA added this to its KEV catalog 65 days after the CVE record was published.KEV lag = CISA-KEV dateAdded − CVE.org datePublished; a floor on how long the known-exploited flaw sat in the public record before the federal catalog listed it. Severity/weakness here is CNA- or CISA-assigned (current at disclosure), independent of NVD's analysis backlog.
Public exploit available
Public exploit tooling is catalogued for this CVE (a functional/weaponized public exploit). Catalog entries: Metasploit module, nuclei template. We link the catalog page(s) only — no payload or code is hosted or restated here.Link, never host — the catalog page is the source; basicsecurity.net does not redistribute payloads.
02
Who’s exploiting it?
— attribution turns risk into urgencyAPT40 State-sponsored (PRC)
The CISA-led joint advisory AA24-190A names APT40 (tracked in ATT&CK as Leviathan) as a PRC Ministry of State Security group that rapidly weaponizes newly public vulnerabilities, naming the ProxyShell Exchange chain, Log4Shell, and Atlassian Confluence CVEs alongside the group.15
03
Why it matters
— the attack path, told twice: adversary, then board1
Front door — unauthenticated access narrative 1
Attacker
I craft a malicious OGNL expression and send it to an unauthenticated endpoint in Confluence.
Business
The organization's Confluence instance is compromised without requiring valid credentials, expanding the attack surface to any internet-facing deployment.
2
Keys to the kingdom — privilege/identity takeover narrative 2
Attacker
My injected expression executes arbitrary code with the privileges of the Confluence process.
Business
Attackers gain full control of the server, enabling data theft, lateral movement, and installation of persistent backdoors.
3
Lateral reach — past segmentation narrative 3
Attacker
I deploy ransomware or encrypt critical collaboration data stored in Confluence.
Business
Business operations halt as teams lose access to documentation, project plans, and institutional knowledge; recovery requires costly incident response and potential ransom negotiation.
04
What to do
— defensible action- Remediate per the vendor advisory — confirm the fixed build for your version and verify exposure.1
Say it to the boardA vulnerability with this evidence profile is a defensible budget line, not a backlog ticket — fund the change against the proof above.
05