CVE-2025-22176

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-22176 is an authorization vulnerability in Atlassian Jira Align that allows a low-privilege user to access unexpected endpoints, leading to the disclosure of a small amount of sensitive information, such as audit log items. The vulnerability has a CVSS score of 0.0 (likely unassigned or placeholder), and no public exploit or patch details are currently available. The EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating low exploitation probability at this time. This report provides a comprehensive technical analysis, detection guidance, and mitigation recommendations.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability is not related to an open-source package (NPM, PyPI, Go, Ruby) but to a proprietary Atlassian product. Supply chain risks are limited to the Jira Align application itself.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 0.0 (Unassigned/Placeholder)
• Attack Vector (AV): Network (likely)
• Attack Complexity (AC): Low (likely)
• Privileges Required (PR): Low (confirmed)
• User Interaction (UI): None (likely)
• Scope (S): Unchanged (likely)
• Confidentiality (C): Low (disclosure of audit log items)
• Integrity (I): None
• Availability (A): None
• Threat Level: Low-Medium (due to low privilege requirement but limited information disclosure)

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability stems from improper authorization checks in Jira Align's API endpoints. A low-privilege user (e.g., a user with minimal permissions) can bypass access controls to reach endpoints that should be restricted to higher-privilege roles. The disclosed information includes audit log items, which may contain metadata about administrative actions, user activity, or system changes. The exact mechanism is not publicly documented, but it likely involves missing or insufficient role-based access control (RBAC) validation on specific REST API routes.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

No specific code comparison is available due to the proprietary nature of Jira Align and lack of patch details. The vulnerability is presumed to be fixed by adding proper authorization checks on the affected endpoints.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

1. Reconnaissance: Identify Jira Align instances (e.g., via Shodan dorks: "Jira Align").
2. Authentication: Obtain low-privilege credentials (e.g., via phishing or default credentials).
3. Endpoint Discovery: Enumerate API endpoints, focusing on audit log functionality (e.g., /api/auditlog, /rest/audit/1.0/logs).
4. Exploitation: Send requests to the discovered endpoints with the low-privilege session token. Example:

   curl -X GET "https://target-jira-align.com/api/auditlog" \
        -H "Authorization: Bearer <low_priv_token>"
   

5. Data Extraction: Parse the response for audit log entries.

Blue Team

1. Monitor Access Logs: Look for unusual access to audit log endpoints by low-privilege users.
2. Review API Usage: Identify patterns of repeated requests to sensitive endpoints from non-admin accounts.
3. Harden RBAC: Ensure proper authorization checks are in place for all API endpoints.
4. Network Segmentation: Restrict access to Jira Align from untrusted networks.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• Network: HTTP requests to /api/auditlog, /rest/audit/1.0/logs, or similar endpoints from low-privilege user agents.
• Logs: Audit log entries showing access to audit log endpoints by users with insufficient permissions.
• User Behavior: Unusual spikes in API calls to sensitive endpoints from a single low-privilege account.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_22176_Jira_Align_Auth_Bypass {
    meta:
        description = "Detects potential exploitation of CVE-2025-22176 in Jira Align"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-22176"
    strings:
        $s1 = "/api/auditlog" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "/rest/audit/1.0/logs" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "auditLog" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        any of ($s*) and filesize < 10KB
}

Sigma Rule

title: CVE-2025-22176 - Jira Align Authorization Bypass
id: 8a9b7c6d-5e4f-3a2b-1c0d-9e8f7a6b5c4d
status: experimental
description: Detects access to Jira Align audit log endpoints by low-privilege users
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
references:
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-22176
logsource:
    category: web
    product: jira_align
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-stem:
            - "/api/auditlog"
            - "/rest/audit/1.0/logs"
        cs-username: "*"
        cs-method: "GET"
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin access
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http $HOME_NET any -> $EXTERNAL_NET any (msg:"CVE-2025-22176 - Jira Align Audit Log Access by Low-Privilege User"; flow:to_server,established; content:"GET"; http_method; content:"/api/auditlog"; http_uri; nocase; content:"/rest/audit/1.0/logs"; http_uri; nocase; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Apply Vendor Patch: Monitor Atlassian for an official security patch and apply it immediately.
2. Workaround: If patching is not possible, restrict access to audit log endpoints via reverse proxy or WAF rules (e.g., block /api/auditlog for non-admin users).
3. Review User Permissions: Audit all user roles and ensure least privilege principles are enforced.
4. Enable Logging: Ensure detailed logging of API access and monitor for anomalies.
5. Network Controls: Use network segmentation to limit exposure of Jira Align to trusted IPs only.

Valters IT
DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence Expert