[BUG] The image download encountered an authentication

[fanjindong]

Describe the bug
The image download encountered an authentication issue (the returned image was the HTML of the login page instead of the actual image)

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Run command 'confluence export 268159759'

Expected behavior

image

Screenshots
up

Environment (please complete the following information):

• OS: [e.g. macOS, Windows, Linux] macOS
• Node.js version: [e.g. 18.17.0] v22.19.0
• confluence-cli version: [e.g. 1.0.0] 1.27.4
• Confluence version: [e.g. Cloud, Server 8.5] 1.27.4

Additional context
Add any other context about the problem here.

Error logs
If applicable, add error logs or stack traces.

[fanjindong]

The text on the page can be downloaded, but the image download fails（What is returned is the HTML of the login page instead of the actual image）

[fanjindong]

{
"activeProfile": "default",
"profiles": {
"default": {
"domain": "cfl.corpp.1000.me",
"protocol": "https",
"apiPath": "/rest/api",
"token": "NDM1NTE2ODc3NzExOtSTnmydk1cqgp1rsG76uBx0X08l",
"authType": "bearer"
}
}
}

[pchuri]

Hi @fanjindong, thanks for reporting this issue!

After investigating the code and your screenshots, it's clear that the downloaded "image" files actually contain the Confluence login page HTML instead of the actual image binary data. This points to an authentication issue specifically with the attachment download path (/download/attachments/...).

We found a known Confluence Data Center bug CONFSERVER-66485 — the /download/attachments/ servlet path did not accept Personal Access Token (Bearer) authentication, redirecting to the login page instead. This was fixed in Confluence 7.13.0.

Additionally, Confluence Data Center does not have a REST API endpoint for downloading attachment binary data (/content/{id}/child/attachment/{attachmentId}/download is Cloud-only), so the only way to download attachments on DC is through the servlet path, which requires the fix above.

Could you provide the following details so we can determine the best fix?

1. What is your Confluence Data Center/Server version? (You can find it at {your-domain}/rest/applinks/1.0/manifest or in the admin panel under "System Information")
2. Is your Confluence instance behind a reverse proxy or SSO (e.g., Nginx, Apache, Keycloak, SAML)?
3. Have you tried using basic auth (authType: "basic" with email + token) instead of bearer to see if the download works?

If your Confluence version is below 7.13.0, upgrading would resolve this issue. If it's 7.13.0+, then a reverse proxy or SSO layer might be stripping the Authorization header before it reaches Confluence, and we'd need to investigate further.

[fanjindong]

1. Version: 7.12.0
2. Reverse proxy Nginx
3. When using basic auth，download is working properly.

[pchuri]

Thanks for the detailed response, @fanjindong!

This confirms the root cause: Confluence 7.12.0 has a known bug (CONFSERVER-66485) where the /download/attachments/ servlet path does not accept Bearer token (PAT) authentication — it redirects to the login page instead of returning the file. This was fixed in Confluence 7.13.0.

Unfortunately, Confluence Data Center/Server does not provide a REST API endpoint for downloading attachment binary data (that endpoint only exists on Confluence Cloud), so the servlet path is the only option — and it requires the fix in 7.13.0+ to work with Bearer auth.

Recommended solutions:

1. Upgrade Confluence to 7.13.0+ — this fixes the underlying bug and Bearer auth will work for downloads.
2. Continue using basic auth — since you confirmed it works, this is the simplest workaround if upgrading is not an option right now.

Either way, basic auth with a PAT is a perfectly valid and secure approach on Confluence Data Center, so option 2 is a good long-term solution as well.

I'll close this issue since it's a known upstream Confluence bug rather than a confluence-cli issue. Feel free to reopen if you run into any other problems!