CVE-2023-36470
Published: 29 June 2023
Summary
CVE-2023-36470 is a critical-severity Injection (CWE-74) vulnerability in Xwiki Xwiki. Its CVSS base score is 9.9 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 5.9% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
Deeper analysis
XWiki Platform, a generic wiki platform, contains an injection vulnerability in its icon set handling that permits untrusted users to supply XWiki syntax and Velocity code. The flaw exists in the icon picker, the rendering of icon themes, and the JSON output consumed by the picker; any of these paths can cause the injected code to execute with programming rights.
An authenticated attacker who can create or edit a document containing an icon set, or who can modify the currently active icon theme, can achieve remote code execution on the XWiki instance. Successful exploitation grants full control over confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the server.
The project has released patches in XWiki 14.10.6 and 15.1 that require script right on icon themes, execute icon-theme code only within the theme’s own context, and introduce a dedicated macro for icon display to avoid raw syntax injection. Users are advised to upgrade; no workarounds are documented.
The EPSS score rose from a low baseline to a peak of 0.1435 (current value 0.1261), indicating that exploitation interest increased after disclosure.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-1785
Vulnerability details
XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. By either creating a new or editing an existing document with an icon set, an attacker can inject XWiki syntax and Velocity code…
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that is executed with programming rights and thus allows remote code execution. There are different attack vectors, the simplest is the Velocity code in the icon set's HTML or XWiki syntax definition. The [icon picker](https://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Icon%20Theme%20Application#HIconPicker) can be used to trigger the rendering of any icon set. The XWiki syntax variant of the icon set is also used without any escaping in some documents, allowing to inject XWiki syntax including script macros into a document that might have programming right, for this the currently used icon theme needs to be edited. Further, the HTML output of the icon set is output as JSON in the icon picker and this JSON is interpreted as XWiki syntax, allowing again the injection of script macros into a document with programming right and thus allowing remote code execution. This impacts the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the whole XWiki instance. This issue has been patched in XWiki 14.10.6 and 15.1. Icon themes now require script right and the code in the icon theme is executed within the context of the icon theme, preventing any rights escalation. A macro for displaying icons has been introduced to avoid injecting the raw wiki syntax of an icon set into another document. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
No named actor attribution yet. ATT&CK technique mapping in progress for this CVE.
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.