# CVE-2017-16856: Cross-site scripting in Confluence

> Remote attackers can inject arbitrary HTML or JavaScript via the RSS Feed macro, potentially leading to session hijacking or malicious actions.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.1 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 5 Dec 2017
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-7x5g-hwfp-5cwv

## What is CVE-2017-16856?

CVE-2017-16856 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Atlassian Confluence, published on 5 Dec 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The RSS Feed macro in Atlassian Confluence before version 6.5.2 allows remote attackers to inject arbitrary HTML or JavaScript via cross site scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in various rss properties which were used as links without restriction on their scheme.

Weakness: CWE-79 (Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-16856?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Atlassian Confluence.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-16856?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-16856 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-16856 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-16856 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Atlassian Confluence

- [CVE-2019-3395](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3395/): Server-side request forgery in Confluence Server (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-3394](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-3394/): Path traversal in Confluence Server (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-20406](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20406/): Privilege escalation in Confluence Data Center (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-15006](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-15006/): Other in Confluence Server (medium 6.5)
- [CVE-2017-18085](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-18085/): Cross-site scripting in Confluence (medium 6.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-16856 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-16856 is a medium-severity cross-site scripting vulnerability in Atlassian Confluence, published on 5 Dec 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-16856 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Atlassian Confluence. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-16856/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-16856/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-16856
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-16856
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-16856

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-16856/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.