# CVE-2019-20406: Privilege escalation in Confluence Data Center

> Local attackers can escalate privileges and execute code via DLL hijacking in Confluence on Windows by writing to a directory in the global path.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 6 Feb 2020
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-gw5q-m62q-j9vf

## What is CVE-2019-20406?

CVE-2019-20406 is a high-severity vulnerability in Atlassian Confluence Data Center, published on 6 Feb 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The usage of Tomcat in Confluence on the Microsoft Windows operating system before version 7.0.5, and from version 7.1.0 before version 7.1.1 allows local system attackers who have permission to write a DLL file in a directory in the global path environmental variable variable to inject code & escalate their privileges via a DLL hijacking vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-427 (Uncontrolled Search Path Element)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2019-20406?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Atlassian Confluence, Atlassian Confluence Server.

## How do I fix CVE-2019-20406?

No fix has been published for CVE-2019-20406 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2019-20406 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-20406 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Atlassian Confluence Data Center

- [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-2019-15006](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)
- [CVE-2017-18086](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-18086/): Cross-site scripting in n/a (medium 6.1)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2019-20406 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2019-20406 is a high-severity vulnerability in Atlassian Confluence Data Center, published on 6 Feb 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2019-20406 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Atlassian Confluence Data Center. 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-2019-20406/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20406/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2019-20406
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-20406
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2019-20406

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-20406/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.