CVE-2016-6668 in Hipchat Plugin
Summary
by MITRE
The Atlassian Hipchat Integration Plugin for Bitbucket Server 6.26.0 before 6.27.5, 6.28.0 before 7.3.7, and 7.4.0 before 7.8.17; Confluence HipChat plugin 6.26.0 before 7.8.17; and HipChat for JIRA plugin 6.26.0 before 7.8.17 allows remote attackers to obtain the secret key for communicating with HipChat instances by reading unspecified pages.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/14/2026
The vulnerability described in CVE-2016-6668 represents a critical information disclosure flaw affecting multiple Atlassian plugins that facilitate integration with HipChat communication services. This vulnerability impacts Bitbucket Server, Confluence, and JIRA products across specific version ranges, creating a significant security risk for organizations relying on these integrations. The flaw allows remote attackers to extract secret keys used for authenticating communications between Atlassian products and HipChat instances, potentially compromising the entire communication infrastructure.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from improper access controls within the plugin implementations, specifically in how they handle requests to certain internal pages or endpoints. Attackers can exploit this weakness by accessing unspecified pages that contain sensitive configuration data including secret keys required for HipChat integration. This represents a classic case of insufficient authorization checks where sensitive information is exposed without proper authentication or access validation. The vulnerability aligns with CWE-284, which addresses improper access control issues, and demonstrates how weak access controls can lead to information disclosure attacks.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure, as the compromised secret keys can enable attackers to impersonate legitimate Atlassian applications within HipChat environments. This allows for potential man-in-the-middle attacks, unauthorized access to communication channels, and the ability to send malicious messages or commands through the integrated HipChat infrastructure. Organizations may experience unauthorized data exfiltration, disruption of communication services, and potential lateral movement within their network environments. The vulnerability affects the fundamental security model of the integrated communication system, undermining trust in the authenticated channels between Atlassian products and HipChat services.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including applying the vendor-provided patches and updates for all affected versions of the Atlassian plugins. The recommended approach involves upgrading to the patched versions specified in the CVE details, which address the improper access control mechanisms. Network segmentation and monitoring should be enhanced to detect unauthorized access attempts to plugin endpoints. Additionally, organizations should review and rotate any compromised secret keys, implement proper access logging for plugin endpoints, and consider temporary removal of the affected plugins until comprehensive security assessments are complete. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of maintaining up-to-date security patches and implementing robust access control mechanisms for integration components, aligning with ATT&CK technique T1566 for credential access through exploitation of software vulnerabilities.