Security Resilience

CVE-2023-45138

XSS in Xwiki Change Request 0.11 – 1.9.2

High EPSSXSS
Published
12 October 2023
Modified
21 November 2024
Patch / advisory
View advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 10.0
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.72 99.4th percentile
Risk Priority 99 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-2023-45138 is a critical-severity Cross-site Scripting (CWE-79) vulnerability in Xwiki Change Request. Its CVSS base score is 10.0 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Protocol or Service Impersonation (T1001.003); ranked in the top 0.6% 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.

Change Request is an XWiki application that lets users submit proposed edits without publishing them directly. Versions 0.11 through 1.9.1 contain a script-injection flaw that permits remote code execution when an attacker supplies a crafted title while creating a new change request. The issue stems from insufficient sanitization of the title field inside ChangeRequest.Code.ChangeRequestSheet, allowing arbitrary script execution with the privileges of the application.

Any unauthenticated or low-privileged user can trigger the vulnerability simply by creating a change request, achieving full remote code execution on the server because the application is explicitly designed to accept input from users without special rights. Successful exploitation yields complete confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact, reflected in the CVSS 10.0 score.

The project’s security advisory and the fix commit at 7565e720117f73102f5a276239eabfe85e15cff4 state that the vulnerability is resolved in Change Request 1.9.2. Administrators who cannot upgrade immediately can apply the same patch manually by editing the ChangeRequest.Code.ChangeRequestSheet document.

The current EPSS of 0.7843 matches the observed peak, indicating sustained exploitation interest since disclosure.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

A05:2025 Injection

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

Change Request is an pplication allowing users to request changes on a wiki without publishing the changes directly. Starting in version 0.11 and prior to version 1.9.2, it's possible for a user without any specific right to perform script injection…

more

and remote code execution just by inserting an appropriate title when creating a new Change Request. This vulnerability is particularly critical as Change Request aims at being created by user without any particular rights. The vulnerability has been fixed in Change Request 1.9.2. It's possible to workaround the issue without upgrading by editing the document `ChangeRequest.Code.ChangeRequestSheet` and by performing the same change as in the fix commit.

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-2023-45134Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-29201Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-26480Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-29515Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2022-36098Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-29506Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-35162Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-29528Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-29207Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-45137Same vendor: Xwiki

Affected Assets

xwiki
change request
0.11 — 1.9.2

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