CVE-2023-36469
Xwiki 9.6 – 14.10.6
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HCVSS and EPSS are reproduced from their sources (NVD, FIRST EPSS). Risk Priority is our own derived reading, not an NVD score.
Summary
CVE-2023-36469 is a critical-severity Injection (CWE-74) vulnerability in Xwiki Xwiki. Its CVSS base score is 9.9 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.4% 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 Platform, a generic wiki platform for building applications, contains an injection vulnerability tracked as CVE-2023-36469. Any authenticated user able to modify their own profile and notification settings can inject and execute arbitrary script macros, including Groovy and Python, because input handling in the notification RSS service does not properly restrict macro execution.
An attacker with low-privileged edit rights on their user profile can therefore achieve remote code execution with full read and write access to all wiki contents, corresponding to the CVSS 9.9 rating and CWE-74 classification. Exploitation requires no user interaction beyond the initial profile change and can be performed over the network.
Official patches are available in XWiki 14.10.6 and 15.2RC1. The GitHub advisory and associated commits describe a manual workaround that edits the XWiki.Notifications.Code.NotificationRSSService document, although this disables diff links unless corresponding Velocity template changes are also applied; the mentions template inside a JAR cannot be corrected without replacing the archive.
The EPSS score has reached a peak of 0.47 with a current value of 0.40, indicating sustained exploitation interest following disclosure.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-1757
Vulnerability Data
XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. Any user who can edit their own user profile and notification settings can execute arbitrary script macros including Groovy and Python macros that…
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allow remote code execution including unrestricted read and write access to all wiki contents. This has been patched in XWiki 14.10.6 and 15.2RC1. Users are advised to update. As a workaround the main security fix can be manually applied by patching the affected document `XWiki.Notifications.Code.NotificationRSSService`. This will break the link to the differences, though as this requires additional changes to Velocity templates as shown in the patch. While the default template is available in the instance and can be easily patched, the template for mentions is contained in a `.jar`-file and thus cannot be fixed without replacing that jar.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
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.
Developer assessments and testing (including injection-focused techniques) identify improper neutralization of special elements, and the verifiable flaw remediation corrects them pre-deployment.
Identifies indicators of injection attacks (command, SQL, LDAP, etc.) via anomaly and attack monitoring.
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.
Logging supports detection of injection attempts but does not prevent the weakness.
Monitoring activities can identify active injection attacks after they occur.
A.8.25 mandates a secure SDLC process that includes secure coding guidelines, security requirements, checkpoints, testing (scans/penetration), and developer training to reduce injection flaws, but does not itself enforce or guarantee neutralization of special elements at runtime.
Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against injection attacks in software design.
A.8.27 mandates security-by-design principles (including distrust external input, data validation/sanitization, secure architecture layers, and design reviews against attack patterns) that reach injection when applied to output construction; this stops exploitation for a minority slice (e.g. where principles drive sanitization) but leaves most code-level injection defects untouched without further implementation rigor.
Secure coding standards require proper neutralization of special elements, directly addressing CWE-74.
Hardening callouts derived
DISA STIG baselines are authored against specific weaknesses. Where this CVE cites a broad weakness class, the mapping is not asserted at that abstraction (owner ruling, 2026-09-25: grade only at Base and below), so no rule is shown here rather than a rule shown against the wrong grain.
- No fine-grained STIG row for CWE-74, a class-level weakness, and none of its children carries one either.