CVE-2024-48942 is a severe vulnerability affecting the Syracom Secure Login two-factor authentication plugin integrated with Atlassian products Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket up to version 3.1.4.5. The vulnerability exists because the plugin's validation endpoint (/plugins/servlet/twofactor/public/pinvalidation) accepts a large token window, specifically the last 30 and the next 30 tokens, as valid. This design flaw drastically reduces the security of the 2FA mechanism, allowing remote attackers to perform brute-force attacks against the 2FA PIN without any authentication or user interaction. The attack vector is network-based, requiring only access to the vulnerable endpoint. The weakness corresponds to CWE-799 (Improper Control of Interaction Frequency), indicating insufficient rate limiting or token validation controls. Exploiting this vulnerability enables attackers to bypass 2FA protections, compromising user accounts and potentially gaining unauthorized access to sensitive project management, development, and collaboration data hosted on Atlassian platforms. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 9.1 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N) highlights the critical nature of this flaw, emphasizing its ease of exploitation and severe impact on confidentiality and integrity. No patches or mitigations have been officially released at the time of publication, and no active exploitation has been reported, but the risk remains high due to the widespread use of these Atlassian products in enterprise environments.

The impact of CVE-2024-48942 is significant for organizations relying on Atlassian Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket with the Syracom Secure Login 2FA plugin. Successful exploitation allows attackers to bypass two-factor authentication, effectively nullifying a critical security control designed to prevent unauthorized access. This can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive project management data, source code repositories, and internal documentation, potentially resulting in intellectual property theft, data breaches, and disruption of business operations. The integrity of user accounts and data can be compromised, enabling attackers to impersonate legitimate users and perform unauthorized actions. Since the vulnerability requires no authentication and no user interaction, it can be exploited remotely and at scale, increasing the risk of widespread compromise. Organizations in sectors with high reliance on Atlassian tools, such as software development, finance, government, and critical infrastructure, face elevated risks. The absence of known exploits in the wild provides a window for mitigation, but the critical severity demands immediate attention to prevent potential attacks.

To mitigate CVE-2024-48942, organizations should take the following specific actions: 1) Immediately audit the usage of the Syracom Secure Login 2FA plugin across all Atlassian Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket instances and identify affected versions up to 3.1.4.5. 2) If possible, disable the vulnerable 2FA plugin temporarily or restrict access to the /plugins/servlet/twofactor/public/pinvalidation endpoint via network controls such as firewalls or reverse proxies to limit exposure. 3) Implement additional rate limiting and monitoring on the 2FA validation endpoint to detect and block brute-force attempts. 4) Enforce strong password policies and consider deploying alternative 2FA solutions that do not exhibit this vulnerability. 5) Monitor logs for unusual authentication attempts or repeated PIN validation failures indicative of brute-force activity. 6) Engage with the plugin vendor or Atlassian support channels to obtain patches or updates as soon as they become available. 7) Educate users about the risk and encourage vigilance for suspicious account activity. 8) Consider deploying Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block exploitation attempts targeting this endpoint. These targeted mitigations go beyond generic advice by focusing on controlling access to the vulnerable endpoint and enhancing detection capabilities until an official patch is released.