Confluence Pre-Auth RCE via OGNL Injection CVE-2023-22527

name: Confluence Pre-Auth RCE via OGNL Injection CVE-2023-22527
id: f56936c0-ae6f-4eeb-91ff-ecc1448c6105
version: 7
date: '2026-03-10'
author: Michael Haag, Splunk
status: production
type: TTP
data_source:
    - Suricata
description: The following analytic identifies attempts to exploit a critical template injection vulnerability (CVE-2023-22527) in outdated Confluence Data Center and Server versions. It detects POST requests to the "/template/aui/text-inline.vm" endpoint with HTTP status codes 200 or 202, indicating potential OGNL injection attacks. This activity is significant as it allows unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary code remotely. If confirmed malicious, attackers could gain full control over the affected Confluence instance, leading to data breaches, system compromise, and further network infiltration. Immediate patching is essential to mitigate this threat.
search: |-
    | tstats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Web
      WHERE Web.url="*/template/aui/text-inline.vm*" Web.http_method=POST Web.status IN (200, 202)
      BY Web.src, Web.dest, Web.http_user_agent,
         Web.url, Web.status
    | `drop_dm_object_name("Web")`
    | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
    | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
    | `confluence_pre_auth_rce_via_ognl_injection_cve_2023_22527_filter`
how_to_implement: To successfully implement this search you need to be ingesting information on Web traffic that include fields relavent for traffic into the `Web` datamodel.
known_false_positives: False positives may be present with legitimate applications. Attempt to filter by dest IP or use Asset groups to restrict to confluence servers.
references:
    - https://github.com/cleverg0d/CVE-2023-22527
    - https://confluence.atlassian.com/security/cve-2023-22527-rce-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-confluence-data-center-and-confluence-server-1333990257.html
drilldown_searches:
    - name: View the detection results for - "$dest$"
      search: '%original_detection_search% | search  dest = "$dest$"'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
    - name: View risk events for the last 7 days for - "$dest$"
      search: '| from datamodel Risk.All_Risk | search normalized_risk_object IN ("$dest$") starthoursago=168  | stats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime values(search_name) as "Search Name" values(risk_message) as "Risk Message" values(analyticstories) as "Analytic Stories" values(annotations._all) as "Annotations" values(annotations.mitre_attack.mitre_tactic) as "ATT&CK Tactics" by normalized_risk_object | `security_content_ctime(firstTime)` | `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`'
      earliest_offset: $info_min_time$
      latest_offset: $info_max_time$
rba:
    message: Exploitation attempts on a known vulnerability in Atlassian Confluence detected. The source IP is $src$ and the destination hostname is $dest$.
    risk_objects:
        - field: dest
          type: system
          score: 50
    threat_objects:
        - field: src
          type: ip_address
tags:
    cve:
        - CVE-2023-22527
    analytic_story:
        - Confluence Data Center and Confluence Server Vulnerabilities
    asset_type: Web Application
    atomic_guid: []
    mitre_attack_id:
        - T1190
    product:
        - Splunk Enterprise
        - Splunk Enterprise Security
        - Splunk Cloud
    security_domain: network
tests:
    - name: True Positive Test
      attack_data:
        - data: https://media.githubusercontent.com/media/splunk/attack_data/master/datasets/attack_techniques/T1190/confluence/suricata_confluence_cve-2023-22527.log
          source: not_applicable
          sourcetype: suricata