Security Resilience

CVE-2023-35162

XSS in Xwiki 6.2 – 14.10.5

XSS
Published
23 June 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.6
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.024 84th percentile
Risk Priority 85 floored blend · peak EPSS

CVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.

Summary

CVE-2023-35162 is a critical-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Xwiki Xwiki. Its CVSS base score is 9.6 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Protocol or Service Impersonation (T1001.003); ranked in the top 16% 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 runtime, contains a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability (CWE-79) that permits arbitrary JavaScript injection through the previewactions.vm template. The flaw has existed since version 6.1-rc-1 and is triggered when an attacker-supplied xcontinue parameter containing a javascript: URI is processed by the /bin/get/ endpoint, as demonstrated by URLs such as /xwiki/bin/get/FlamingoThemes/Cerulean?xpage=xpart&vm=previewactions.vm&xcontinue=javascript:alert(document.domain).

An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit the issue by crafting a malicious link and inducing a victim to open it; because the script executes in the context of the XWiki origin with changed scope, successful exploitation can result in theft of session tokens, account takeover, or arbitrary actions on behalf of the targeted user, consistent with the CVSS 9.6 rating.

Official patches are available in XWiki 14.10.5 and 15.1-rc-1; the project advisory and associated commits on GitHub document the fix and recommend immediate upgrade for all affected instances.

EPSS scores for this CVE rose from low values after disclosure to a peak of 0.3688 on 2025-01-22 before receding to the current 0.1556, indicating a clear post-publication increase in observed exploitation interest.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. Users are able to forge an URL with a payload allowing to inject Javascript in the page (XSS). It's possible to exploit the…

more

previewactions template to perform a XSS, e.g. by using URL such as: > <hostname>/xwiki/bin/get/FlamingoThemes/Cerulean xpage=xpart&vm=previewactions.vm&xcontinue=javascript:alert(document.domain). This vulnerability exists since XWiki 6.1-rc-1. The vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 14.10.5 and 15.1-rc-1.

CWE(s)
CWE-79

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1001.003 Protocol or Service Impersonation Command And Control
Adversaries may impersonate legitimate protocols or web service traffic to disguise command and control activity and thwart analysis efforts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.004 LSA Secrets Credential Access
Adversaries with SYSTEM access to a host may attempt to access Local Security Authority (LSA) secrets, which can contain a variety of different credential materials, such as credentials for service accounts.
attack.mitre.org →
T1003.005 Cached Domain Credentials Credential Access
Adversaries may attempt to access cached domain credentials used to allow authentication to occur in the event a domain controller is unavailable.
attack.mitre.org →
T1007 System Service Discovery Discovery
Adversaries may try to gather information about registered local system services.
attack.mitre.org →
T1011 Exfiltration Over Other Network Medium Exfiltration
Adversaries may attempt to exfiltrate data over a different network medium than the command and control channel.
attack.mitre.org →
T1012 Query Registry Discovery
Adversaries may interact with the Windows Registry to gather information about the system, configuration, and installed software.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-29205Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-46732Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29201Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29206Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29515Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29506Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2022-36098Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-26480Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-40176Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-45134Same product: Xwiki Xwiki

Affected Assets

xwiki
xwiki
6.1 · 6.2 — 14.10.5

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
  • V1.3.2

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.

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.

SI-15 Information Output Filtering
addresses: CWE-79

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

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
blocks

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
blocks

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.5.14 Information transfer partial match
removes
A.5.15 Access control partial match
removes
A.5.16 Identity management partial match
removes
A.5.17 Authentication information partial match
removes
A.5.18 Access rights partial match
removes
A.5.6 Contact with special interest groups partial match
blocks

A.5.6 only promotes membership in groups to improve knowledge, receive alerts, and share information; it performs no action that stops XSS exploitation (or even the underlying neutralization defect) and is a pure dependency for other controls per the owner's labeling rule.

References