Detection: Confluence Data Center and Server Privilege Escalation

Updated Date: 2026-05-13 ID: 115bebac-0976-4f7d-a3ec-d1fb45a39a11 Author: Michael Haag, Splunk Type: TTP Product: Splunk Enterprise Security

Description

The following analytic identifies potential exploitation attempts on a known vulnerability in Atlassian Confluence, specifically targeting the /setup/.action URL pattern. It leverages web logs within the Splunk 'Web' Data Model, filtering for successful accesses (HTTP status 200) to these endpoints. This activity is significant as it suggests attackers might be exploiting a privilege escalation flaw in Confluence. If confirmed malicious, it could result in unauthorized access or account creation with escalated privileges, leading to potential data breaches or further exploitation within the environment.

Search

 1
 2| tstats count min(_time) as firstTime max(_time) as lastTime FROM datamodel=Web
 3  WHERE Web.url IN ("*/setup/setupadministrator.action*", "*/setup/finishsetup.action*", "*/json/setup-restore-local.action*", "*/json/setup-restore-progress.action*", "*/json/setup-restore.action*", "*/bootstrap/selectsetupstep.action*") Web.status=200
 4  BY Web.http_user_agent, Web.status Web.http_method,
 5     Web.url, Web.url_length, Web.src,
 6     Web.dest, sourcetype
 7
 8| `drop_dm_object_name("Web")`
 9
10| `security_content_ctime(firstTime)`
11
12| `security_content_ctime(lastTime)`
13
14| `confluence_data_center_and_server_privilege_escalation_filter`

Data Source

Name	Platform	Sourcetype	Source
Nginx Access	Other	`'nginx:plus:kv'`	`'/var/log/nginx/access.log'`

Macros Used

Name	Value
security_content_ctime	`convert timeformat="%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S" ctime($field$)`
confluence_data_center_and_server_privilege_escalation_filter	`search *`

confluence_data_center_and_server_privilege_escalation_filter is an empty macro by default. It allows the user to filter out any results (false positives) without editing the SPL.

Annotations

- MITRE ATT&CK

+ Kill Chain Phases

+ NIST

+ CIS

- Threat Actors

ID	Technique	Tactic
T1190	Exploit Public-Facing Application	Initial Access

Delivery

DE.CM

CIS 13

CVE

CVE-2023-22518

Default Configuration

This detection is configured by default in Splunk Enterprise Security to run with the following settings:

Setting	Value
Disabled	true
Cron Schedule	`0 * * * *`
Earliest Time	`-70m@m`
Latest Time	`-10m@m`
Schedule Window	`auto`
Creates Finding (Notable)	Yes
Rule Title	`%name%`
Rule Description	`%description%`
Notable Event Fields	user, dest
Creates Intermediate Finding (Risk Event)	No

TTP detections generate a Finding (Notable) and may generate Intermediate Findings (Risk Events) for associated entities.

Implementation

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.

Associated Analytic Story

Finding

Title	Entity Field	Entity Type	Risk Score
Potential exploitation attempts on a known vulnerability in Atlassian Confluence detected. The source IP is $src$ and the destination hostname is $dest$.	dest	system	50

Threat Objects

Field	Type
src	ip_address

References

Detection Testing

Test Type	Status	Dataset	Source	Sourcetype
Validation	✅ Passing	N/A	N/A	N/A
Unit	✅ Passing	Dataset	`nginx:plus:kv`	`nginx:plus:kv`
Integration	✅ Passing	Dataset	`nginx:plus:kv`	`nginx:plus:kv`

Replay any dataset to Splunk Enterprise by using our replay.py tool or the UI. Alternatively you can replay a dataset into a Splunk Attack Range

Source: GitHub | Version: 11