Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:HSummary
CVE-2023-50721 is a critical-severity Code Injection (CWE-94) vulnerability in Xwiki Xwiki. Its CVSS base score is 9.9 (Critical).
Operationally, ranked in the top 0.4% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation) — see the control section below for these in your framework.
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, contains an improper neutralization vulnerability in its search administration interface. The flaw, present from version 4.5-rc-1 through releases prior to 14.10.15, 15.5.2, and 15.7-rc-1, stems from missing escaping of the identifier and label fields supplied by search user-interface extensions, permitting injection of XWiki syntax that includes script macros such as Groovy. Successful exploitation yields remote code execution with full impact on the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the XWiki instance, corresponding to CWE-94 and CWE-95 and carrying a CVSS 3.1 score of 9.9.
Any authenticated user permitted to edit wiki content, including a personal profile page that is editable by default, can register a malicious UI extension on an arbitrary document. When an administrator subsequently accesses the search administration interface, the injected macros execute in the context of the XWiki application, enabling arbitrary code execution without further user interaction.
Public advisories and the associated GitHub security notice GHSA-7654-vfh6-rw6x state that the required escaping has been implemented in the fixed releases and that the change can be back-ported manually by editing the XWiki.SearchAdmin page. The referenced commits and Jira issue XWIKI-21200 document the precise modifications applied to the search extension rendering code.
The EPSS score has reached a peak of 0.4325 with a current value of 0.3844, indicating moderate and sustained exploitation interest following disclosure.
OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2023-3137
Vulnerability Data
XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform. Starting in 4.5-rc-1 and prior to versions 14.10.15, 15.5.2, and 15.7-rc-1, the search administration interface doesn't properly escape the id and label of search user interface extensions, allowing the injection of XWiki syntax…
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containing script macros including Groovy macros that allow remote code execution, impacting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the whole XWiki instance. This attack can be executed by any user who can edit some wiki page like the user's profile (editable by default) as user interface extensions that will be displayed in the search administration can be added on any document by any user. The necessary escaping has been added in XWiki 14.10.15, 15.5.2 and 15.7RC1. As a workaround, the patch can be applied manually applied to the page `XWiki.SearchAdmin`.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
Likely ATT&CK TechniquesAI
Techniques this vulnerability likely enables, inferred from its description, weakness type, and attributed-actor tradecraft. Confidence is per-technique.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Control response
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly requires validation and sanitization of all input (id/label fields from UI extensions) before rendering in the search admin interface, blocking XWiki/Groovy macro injection.
Enforces least-privilege restrictions on which users or pages may register UI extensions or edit content that is later rendered in privileged admin views.
Mandates prompt application of the documented escaping patch (or manual edit of XWiki.SearchAdmin) to eliminate the injection flaw in the search-extension rendering path.
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's SDLC practices directly target injection flaws via secure coding and testing (mostly), yet as a single broad outcome it leaves many code-generation specifics unaddressed (partial).
PR.DS-10 protects runtime data confidentiality/integrity but has no bearing on neutralizing externally influenced input during code generation, so neither direction shows any preventive effect.
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.
Security testing in development can detect eval injection vulnerabilities before deployment.
Secure development life cycle mandates input validation and safe coding practices that directly prevent eval injection.
Application security requirements include rules against dynamic code execution of untrusted input.
Secure architecture principles discourage unsafe dynamic evaluation constructs.
Banning unapproved code samples and unauthenticated web services, combined with secure-coding standards and SAST, prevents the dynamic generation or inclusion of attacker-supplied code.
Separation of environments limits the blast radius if eval injection occurs in non-production.