Cyber Resilience

CVE-2023-36469

Xwiki 9.6 – 14.10.6

Public PoCHigh EPSS
Published
29 June 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 0.82 99.6th percentile
Risk Priority 94 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2023-36469 is a critical-severity Injection (CWE-74) vulnerability in Xwiki Xwiki. Its CVSS base score is 9.9 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); 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

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…

more

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

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

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.
T1221 Template Injection Stealth
Adversaries may create or modify references in user document templates to conceal malicious code or force authentication attempts.
T1659 Content Injection Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access and continuously communicate with victims by injecting malicious content into systems through online network traffic.
T1674 Input Injection Execution
Adversaries may simulate keystrokes on a victim’s computer by various means to perform any type of action on behalf of the user, such as launching the command interpreter using keyboard shortcuts, typing an inline script to be executed,…
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.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-29512Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29510Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29516Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29526Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29518Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29521Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29524Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29527Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-29519Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-36470Same product: Xwiki Xwiki

Affected Assets

xwiki
xwiki
15.0, 15.1 · 9.6 — 14.10.6

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)
  • V1.2.1
  • V1.2.3
  • V1.2.5
  • V1.2.8

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-74

Developer assessments and testing (including injection-focused techniques) identify improper neutralization of special elements, and the verifiable flaw remediation corrects them pre-deployment.

addresses: CWE-74

Identifies indicators of injection attacks (command, SQL, LDAP, etc.) via anomaly and attack monitoring.

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 validation and output encoding that prevent injection flaws.

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 catches injection vulnerabilities before release.

A.8.15 Logging partial match
finds

Logging supports detection of injection attempts but does not prevent the weakness.

finds

Monitoring activities can identify active injection attacks after they occur.

prevents

Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and output encoding that directly prevent injection flaws.

prevents

Application security requirements explicitly call for controls against injection attacks in software design.

prevents

Secure architecture principles reduce injection surfaces but do not prescribe specific neutralization techniques.

References