CVE-2022-26138

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.

CVSS: 9.8Criticalscored by CISA
Exploited in the wild: Yes, in CISA KEV since 29 Jul 2022CISA deadline for US federal agencies: 19 Aug 2022unvetted proof-of-concept code on github
EPSS: 98.2%chance of exploitation in the next 30 daystop 0.1% of scored CVEsFIRST score of 11 Nov 2026
Fix: Patch availablesee the advisories in the references
Published: 20 Jul 2022analysed here 12 Nov 2026

Do first. Apply updates per vendor instructions. (CISA's required action for this KEV entry)

Summary

Triage

Attack surface: Server-side
Exploitable: Configuration or build time
Attack vector: network
Weakness: CWE-798 Hard-coded Credentials
Can a WAF block it?: No. See why

The summary, impact and action text on this page are written by our AI analysis pipeline, or taken from the NVD description when a CVE was imported from NVD. They are not the vendor's wording: check them against the sources. A longer AI executive summary and technical analysis are generated for signed-in accounts on the Max plan.

Affected products

Product	Affected versions	Vendor says fixed in
Atlassian Questions For Confluence	2.7.342.7.353.0.2Vendor says fixed in: not stated	Not stated by the vendor

As published in the CVE Program record. A version outside these ranges is not a statement that it is unaffected — vendors sometimes understate a range, and distribution-backported builds carry upstream numbers that do not reflect what was patched into them.

Products named in our analysis

atlassian:questions_for_confluence

Fix and mitigation

WAF and other mitigations

Can a WAF block it? No. The attacker logs in using a hardcoded password over the web interface like a normal user, so the malicious request looks like a normal login and cannot be reliably distinguished by a WAF.

Also consider: patch · rotate

Based on an AI reading of the CVE description, and no vendor rule found yet. We check Cloudflare, AWS, Google Cloud Armor and Azure; for Akamai, Imperva, Fastly, F5, ask your vendor.

Remediation steps (AI-written)

Step-by-step remediation is generated for accounts on the Max plan, for CVEs that match a technology in their stack. Add this technology to your stack to see the fix checklist.

Exploitation evidence

CISA KEV catalog: Listed since 29 Jul 2022.
CISA due date: 19 Aug 2022, the remediation deadline for US federal agencies
CISA required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.
Public exploit code: Unvetted proof-of-concept code on GitHub: 4 GitHub proofs of concept · 1 Nuclei template
CISA SSVC: exploitation active, automatable yes, technical impact totalAssessed by CISA 28 Jan 2025 (SSVC 2.0.3). Exploitation is none, poc (public proof of concept) or active.

Nuclei

Atlassian Questions For Confluence - Hardcoded Credentialsdetection template, critical

GitHub proofs of concept

alcaparra/CVE-2022-2613831 stars
z92g/CVE-2022-2613815 stars
Vulnmachines/Confluence-Question-CVE-2022-26138-3 stars
shavchen/CVE-2022-261380 stars

Listed so you can judge urgency, not as a recommendation to run anything. GitHub “proofs of concept” are unvetted: some are fake or carry malware. Exploit-DB marks the entries its staff verified.

Timeline

20 Jul 2022Published
21 Jul 2022First proof-of-concept repository on GitHub (unvetted)same day later
29 Jul 2022Added to CISA KEV (exploited in the wild)8 days later
19 Aug 2022CISA remediation due date (US federal agencies)21 days later
28 Jan 2025CISA SSVC assessment: exploitation active894 days (about 2 years) later
12 Jan 2026CVE record last updated349 days (about 12 months) later
12 Nov 2026Analysed by vulneraibility.com304 days (about 10 months) later

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Metric	Value	What it means
Attack vector	NetworkReachable over the internet or any routable network.	Reachable over the internet or any routable network.
Attack complexity	LowRepeatable attack, no special conditions.	Repeatable attack, no special conditions.
Privileges required	NoneThe attacker needs no prior access.	The attacker needs no prior access.
User interaction	NoneNo victim action needed.	No victim action needed.
Scope	UnchangedImpact stays within the vulnerable component.	Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality	HighTotal data disclosure possible.	Total data disclosure possible.
Integrity	HighComplete modification possible.	Complete modification possible.
Availability	HighFull outage possible.	Full outage possible.

Common questions

Is CVE-2022-26138 being exploited?

Yes. CVE-2022-26138 appears in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog, which means exploitation in the wild has been confirmed and reported. Treat it as active rather than theoretical, and patch it ahead of higher-scoring vulnerabilities that carry no exploitation evidence.

How severe is CVE-2022-26138?

CVE-2022-26138 is rated Critical with a CVSS score of 9.8. Severity describes how bad exploitation would be, not how likely it is: pair it with exploitation evidence before deciding what to patch first.

Is there a patch for CVE-2022-26138?

Yes. A fix has been recorded for CVE-2022-26138. The vendor advisory is the authority on the exact fixed version — apply it from there rather than from a summary.

What does CVE-2022-26138 affect?

CVE-2022-26138 affects atlassian:questions_for_confluence. Confirm the exact affected versions against the vendor advisory before deciding you are exposed.

Exploitation status reflects CISA's KEV catalog as we last synced it. Check the catalog directly.

References

NVD CVE.org CVE Details Source

3 references in the CVE record, grouped by the tags the record gives them.

Where the data on this page comes from

CVE List (CVE.org): description, affected versions, references; CVE Terms of Use
NVD: CVSS and CPE data
CISA KEV catalog: exploitation, date added, due date
CISA Vulnrichment (ADP): SSVC decision points
FIRST EPSS: exploit probability and percentile
Nuclei templates: detection templates
PoC-in-GitHub: GitHub repositories that claim a proof of concept

Summary, impact and triage tags: written by our AI analysis pipeline from the sources above. Check them against the sources.

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