CVE-2025-22168 is a medium-severity authorization vulnerability identified in Atlassian Jira Align, a widely used agile project management tool. The issue stems from improper authorization checks that allow users with low privileges to access endpoints that should be restricted, resulting in unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information. Specifically, a low-privilege user can read private checklist steps belonging to other users, which may contain confidential project or workflow details. The vulnerability affects Jira Align versions 11.14.0 and later, including 11.14.1, 11.15.0, 11.15.1, and 11.16.0. The CVSS 4.0 vector indicates network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required beyond low-level user (PR:L), no user interaction (UI:N), and limited confidentiality impact (VC:L) with no integrity or availability impact. The flaw is categorized under CWE-285 (Improper Authorization). No public exploits have been reported yet, and Atlassian has not published patches at the time of this report. The vulnerability could allow unauthorized users to glean sensitive operational information, potentially aiding further reconnaissance or social engineering attacks. Organizations relying on Jira Align should prioritize reviewing user permissions and monitoring access to sensitive endpoints. Given the nature of the data exposed, the risk is primarily to confidentiality rather than system integrity or availability.

For European organizations, the impact of CVE-2025-22168 primarily concerns confidentiality breaches within project management workflows. Unauthorized disclosure of private checklist steps could expose sensitive project details, internal processes, or strategic plans, which could be leveraged by competitors or threat actors for espionage or targeted attacks. While the vulnerability does not allow modification or disruption of services, the leakage of sensitive information can undermine trust, compliance with data protection regulations such as GDPR, and potentially lead to reputational damage. Organizations in sectors with high regulatory scrutiny or handling sensitive intellectual property—such as finance, telecommunications, defense, and critical infrastructure—face increased risk. Additionally, the vulnerability could facilitate lateral movement or social engineering by providing attackers with insights into internal workflows. The medium severity rating reflects the limited scope of impact but does not diminish the importance of timely mitigation to prevent information exposure.

1. Immediately review and audit user roles and permissions within Jira Align to ensure the principle of least privilege is enforced, minimizing low-privilege user access to sensitive endpoints. 2. Implement strict access control policies and monitor access logs for unusual or unauthorized attempts to access private checklists or other sensitive data. 3. Apply network segmentation and restrict Jira Align access to trusted internal networks or VPNs to reduce exposure to external attackers. 4. Engage with Atlassian support to obtain and deploy patches or updates addressing CVE-2025-22168 as soon as they become available. 5. Consider implementing additional application-layer security controls such as Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block unauthorized endpoint access patterns. 6. Educate users about the sensitivity of checklist data and encourage reporting of suspicious activity. 7. Regularly review and update incident response plans to include scenarios involving unauthorized data disclosure from project management tools. 8. For organizations with compliance requirements, document mitigation steps and risk assessments related to this vulnerability to support audit processes.