Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-29209

RCE in Xwiki 10.9 – 13.10.11

Public PoCRCE
Published
15 April 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.011 64th percentile
Risk Priority 80 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-29209 is a critical-severity Eval Injection (CWE-95) vulnerability in Xwiki Xwiki. Its CVSS base score is 9.9 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique JavaScript (T1059.007); ranked in the top 36% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

XWiki Commons, the technical libraries used across multiple XWiki projects, contain a code injection vulnerability in the legacy notification activity macro that is installed by default. The root cause is improper escaping of macro parameters, which permits any user able to view commonly accessible documents to execute arbitrary Groovy, Python, or Velocity code and thereby obtain full control of the XWiki installation. The flaw affects all versions prior to 13.10.11, 14.4.7, and 14.10 and can be reached both through direct page editing and indirectly via the HTMLConverter component of the bundled CKEditor integration.

An attacker with view rights on accessible documents, or edit rights on any wiki page including a user profile, can supply malicious macro parameters that are interpreted as executable script. Successful exploitation yields remote code execution with the privileges of the XWiki application, resulting in complete confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact as reflected in the CVSS 9.9 score and the associated CWE-95 and CWE-94 classifications.

The published security advisory and accompanying patches in the XWiki repository state that the issue is resolved by updating to versions 13.10.11, 14.4.7, or 14.10; the fix is tracked under XWIKI-20258 and implemented in commit 9439249. The EPSS score has remained flat at its peak value of 0.1893 since disclosure, indicating no material increase in observed exploitation interest.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

XWiki Commons are technical libraries common to several other top level XWiki projects. Any user with view rights on commonly accessible documents including the legacy notification activity macro can execute arbitrary Groovy, Python or Velocity code in XWiki leading to…

more

full access to the XWiki installation. The root cause is improper escaping of the macro parameters of the legacy notification activity macro. This macro is installed by default in XWiki. The vulnerability can be exploited via every wiki page that is editable including the user's profile, but also with just view rights using the HTMLConverter that is part of the CKEditor integration which is bundled with XWiki. The vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 13.10.11, 14.4.7 and 14.10.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1059.007 JavaScript Execution
Adversaries may abuse various implementations of JavaScript for execution.
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
T1059.001 PowerShell Execution
Adversaries may abuse PowerShell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.002 AppleScript Execution
Adversaries may abuse AppleScript for execution.
T1059.004 Unix Shell Execution
Adversaries may abuse Unix shell commands and scripts for execution.
T1059.005 Visual Basic Execution
Adversaries may abuse Visual Basic (VB) for execution.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-26477Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-40177Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29210Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-35152Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-35150Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29211Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-30537Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2024-31465Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29214Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-37909Same product: Xwiki Xwiki

Affected Assets

xwiki
xwiki
10.9 — 13.10.11 · 14.4.0 — 14.4.7 · 14.8 — 14.10

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)

Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)
  • V1.3.1
  • V1.3.2

Likely Mitigating Controls AI

Per-CVE control mapping for this CVE has not run yet; the list below is derived from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry.

addresses: CWE-94

Makes persistent code injection into loaded programs impossible when the executable image itself resides on hardware-protected read-only media.

addresses: CWE-94

Dynamically generated code can be produced and executed inside the isolated chamber, preventing host compromise from code-injection payloads.

addresses: CWE-94

Validates inputs used in dynamic code generation to block injected directives.

addresses: CWE-94

Directly prevents execution of attacker-supplied code written into data memory regions.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.PS-06 mostly match
prevents

Secure SDLC practices directly require input neutralization and avoidance of unsafe dynamic evaluation.

PR.DS-10 none match
prevents

PR.DS-10 protects runtime data confidentiality/integrity but has no bearing on neutralizing externally influenced input during code generation, so neither direction shows any preventive effect.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

finds

Security testing in development can detect eval injection vulnerabilities before deployment.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and safe coding practices that directly prevent eval injection.

prevents

Application security requirements include rules against dynamic code execution of untrusted input.

prevents

Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe dynamic evaluation constructs.

prevents

Secure coding explicitly requires neutralization of input before dynamic evaluation, directly mitigating eval injection.

none

Separation of environments limits the blast radius if eval injection occurs in non-production.

References