Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-32071

XSS in Xwiki 2.3 – 14.4.8

High EPSSXSS
Published
09 May 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.71 99.4th percentile
Risk Priority 88 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-32071 is a critical-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Xwiki Xwiki. Its CVSS base score is 9.0 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Browser Session Hijacking (T1185); ranked in the top 0.6% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

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 Platform, a generic wiki platform, contains a cross-site scripting vulnerability that permits execution of JavaScript in the security context of any targeted user. The flaw affects all versions from 2.2-milestone-1 through 14.4.7, 14.10.3, and 15.0-milestone releases, and stems from insufficient output encoding when an attacker supplies a crafted URL that references a page containing an attachment.

An authenticated attacker who can create or modify content can craft a URL that, when visited by a victim user, causes the victim's browser to execute attacker-controlled JavaScript under that user's privileges. Successful exploitation can therefore result in full compromise of the victim's account within the wiki, including the ability to read or alter arbitrary content and perform actions on the victim's behalf.

Official patches are available in XWiki 15.0-rc-1, 14.10.4, and 14.14.8. The project advisory and associated commit describe a one-line change to templates/importinline.vm that sanitizes the relevant input; the same modification is provided as the recommended workaround for instances that cannot be upgraded immediately.

EPSS scores for this CVE reached a peak of 0.5748 before receding to the current value of 0.3378, indicating transient but notable post-disclosure interest. No confirmed in-the-wild exploitation campaigns have been reported in the referenced sources.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform. Starting in versions 2.2-milestone-1 and prior to versions 14.4.8, 14.10.4, and 15.0-rc-1, it's possible to execute javascript with the right of any user by leading him to a special URL on the wiki…

more

targeting a page which contains an attachment. This has been patched in XWiki 15.0-rc-1, 14.10.4, and 14.4.8. The easiest possible workaround is to edit file `<xwiki app>/templates/importinline.vm` and apply the modification described in commit 28905f7f518cc6f21ea61fe37e9e1ed97ef36f01.

CWE(s)
CWE-79CWE-116

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1185 Browser Session Hijacking Collection
Adversaries may take advantage of security vulnerabilities and inherent functionality in browser software to change content, modify user-behaviors, and intercept information as part of various browser session hijacking techniques.
attack.mitre.org →
T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie Credential Access
An adversary may steal web application or service session cookies and use them to gain access to web applications or Internet services as an authenticated user without needing credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
T1659 Content Injection Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access and continuously communicate with victims by injecting malicious content into systems through online network traffic.
attack.mitre.org →
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
attack.mitre.org →
T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter Execution
Adversaries may abuse command and script interpreters to execute commands, scripts, or binaries.
attack.mitre.org →
T1189 Drive-by Compromise Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access to a system through a user visiting a website over the normal course of browsing.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-40176Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-35162Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-34464Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29201Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29202Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-26480Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29506Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29205Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-35155Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29515Same product: Xwiki Xwiki

Affected Assets

xwiki
xwiki
2.2 · 2.3 — 14.4.8 · 14.5.0 — 14.10.4

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)
  • V1.1.2
  • V1.2.1
  • V1.2.3
  • 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.

SI-15 Information Output Filtering
addresses: CWE-79 CWE-116

Output validation against expected content can reject or sanitize script content in generated web pages, reducing XSS exploitability.

CA-8 Penetration Testing
addresses: CWE-79

Penetration testing submits XSS payloads to web applications, detecting cross-site scripting flaws for subsequent remediation.

SI-10 Information Input Validation
addresses: CWE-79

Validates web inputs to reject script-related content that could produce XSS.

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 target introduction of XSS via coding standards/testing (mostly), yet the single broad outcome leaves many specific neutralization vectors unaddressed (partial).

PR.PS-02 partial match
prevents

Patching and EOL replacement can remediate known XSS instances in libraries or frameworks (partial) but do nothing to enforce input neutralization in application code (none).

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.

A.8.28 Secure coding mostly match
prevents

Secure coding standards explicitly require correct output encoding and escaping to preserve message structure.

A.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Secure-coding testing and automated code-analysis tools are applied to detect improper neutralization of script-related content during web-page generation.

A.5.6 Contact with special interest groups partial match
prevents

Knowledge exchange on emerging attack techniques and patches reduces the likelihood that cross-site scripting flaws remain unaddressed in deployed applications.

A.5.7 Threat intelligence partial match
prevents

Operational indicators of compromise for web-application attacks can be incorporated into WAF or input-filtering rules, lowering the likelihood that unsanitized data reaches the browser.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Requiring language-specific secure-coding standards and automated scanning during the SDLC catches missing output encoding or improper neutralization of untrusted data before the software reaches production.

A.8.26 Application security requirements partial match
prevents

Application security requirements include explicit rules for safe output handling and encoding.

References