Cyber 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 0.71 99.4th percentile
Risk Priority 99 floored blend · peak EPSS

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 Browser Session Hijacking (T1185); 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

T1185 Browser Session Hijacking Collection
Adversaries may take advantage of security vulnerabilities and inherent functionality in browser software to change content, modify user-behaviors, and intercept information as part of various browser session hijacking techniques.
attack.mitre.org →
T1539 Steal Web Session Cookie Credential Access
An adversary may steal web application or service session cookies and use them to gain access to web applications or Internet services as an authenticated user without needing credentials.
attack.mitre.org →
T1659 Content Injection Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access and continuously communicate with victims by injecting malicious content into systems through online network traffic.
attack.mitre.org →
T1189 Drive-by Compromise Initial Access
Adversaries may gain access to a system through a user visiting a website over the normal course of browsing.
attack.mitre.org →
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.
attack.mitre.org →
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2023-40176Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-35162Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-29528Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-34464Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-29201Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-29202Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-26480Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-29506Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-29205Same vendor: Xwiki
CVE-2023-35155Same 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
prevents

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
prevents

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.8.29 Security testing in development and acceptance mostly match
finds

Secure-coding testing and automated code-analysis tools are applied to detect improper neutralization of script-related content during web-page generation.

A.5.6 Contact with special interest groups partial match
prevents

Knowledge exchange on emerging attack techniques and patches reduces the likelihood that cross-site scripting flaws remain unaddressed in deployed applications.

A.5.7 Threat intelligence partial match
prevents

Operational indicators of compromise for web-application attacks can be incorporated into WAF or input-filtering rules, lowering the likelihood that unsanitized data reaches the browser.

A.8.25 Secure development life cycle partial match
prevents

Requiring language-specific secure-coding standards and automated scanning during the SDLC catches missing output encoding or improper neutralization of untrusted data before the software reaches production.

A.8.28 Secure coding partial match
prevents

Secure-coding standards, SAST scans and removal of insecure code samples together eliminate the failure to neutralize script content that produces cross-site scripting flaws.

A.8.7 Protection against malware none match
none

Webpage malware scanning and block-listing of known malicious sites reduce the likelihood that reflected or stored script payloads reach a user’s browser.

References