CVE-2023-37912
Xwiki-Rendering ≤ 14.10.6
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2023-37912 is a critical-severity Privilege Context Switching Error (CWE-270) vulnerability in Xwiki Xwiki-Rendering. Its CVSS base score is 9.9 (Critical).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Access Token Manipulation (T1134); ranked in the top 33% 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 Rendering, the component responsible for converting textual syntax in the XWiki platform, contains a context-handling flaw in its footnote macro. Affected packages are org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-core-rendering-macro-footnotes and org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes prior to 14.10.6, and org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes prior to 15.1-rc-1. The macro renders its content in a context that may differ from the page where it was defined, enabling privilege escalation when combined with the include macro.
An authenticated user with only basic edit rights can embed a footnote macro that includes attacker-controlled content, thereby obtaining programming rights. Successful exploitation yields remote code execution on the XWiki server, with full impact on the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the installation. The vulnerability carries a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.9.
The GitHub Security Advisory and XWiki Jira entry state that the issue is resolved in the listed releases and that no workaround exists other than upgrading the footnote macro. The associated EPSS score has remained flat at 0.0989 since disclosure, indicating no material increase in observed exploitation interest.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-2625
Vulnerability Data
XWiki Rendering is a generic Rendering system that converts textual input in a given syntax into another syntax. Prior to version 14.10.6 of `org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-core-rendering-macro-footnotes` and `org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes` and prior to version 15.1-rc-1 of `org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes`, the footnote macro executed its content in…
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a potentially different context than the one in which it was defined. In particular in combination with the include macro, this allows privilege escalation from a simple user account in XWiki to programming rights and thus remote code execution, impacting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the whole XWiki installation. This vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 14.10.6 and 15.1-rc-1. There is no workaround apart from upgrading to a fixed version of the footnote macro.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
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- 2 hardening rules · 2 OS baselines
V13.2.2
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.
Enforcing least-privilege authorization policies and reviews directly prevents improper privilege changes across contexts.
Integrating secure-development practices catches and eliminates context-switching privilege errors during design and coding.
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.
Privileged-access-rights control directly addresses improper privilege elevation during context switches.
Access-control policy defines privilege boundaries but does not guarantee correct switching logic.
Managing access rights includes privilege assignment but not runtime context-switch enforcement.
Restricting privileged utilities reduces exposure to context-switch privilege errors.
Secure-SDLC practices can catch privilege-handling defects early but do not guarantee runtime correctness.
Secure-architecture principles encourage least-privilege context separation but leave implementation details open.
Hardening callouts derived
Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).
Ubuntu 22.04 (1 rule)
- V-260470 Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, when booted, must require authentication upon booting into single-user and maintenance modes. prevents CWE-270