Cyber Resilience

CVE-2024-31983

Access Control in Xwiki 4.3.1 – 14.10.20

Public PoCAccess Control
Published
10 April 2024
Modified
21 January 2025
Patch / advisory
CVSS Score v3.1 9.9
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.014 71th percentile
Risk Priority 85 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2024-31983 is a critical-severity Missing Authorization (CWE-862) vulnerability in Xwiki Xwiki. Its CVSS base score is 9.9 (Critical).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked in the top 29% of CVEs by exploit likelihood; it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-24 (Access Control Decisions) and AC-25 (Reference Monitor) — 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 authorization flaw in its handling of translations within multilingual wikis. Any user granted only edit rights can modify translation strings that should be restricted to script-right holders for user-scope entries or wiki administrators for wiki-scope entries. The issue affects releases from 4.3-milestone-2 through 14.10.19, 15.5.3, and 15.9 and stems from missing enforcement of the higher privileges normally required to author translations; when an unescaped translation value is later rendered, the flaw can be chained to remote code execution.

An attacker with edit access on a multilingual wiki can therefore supply a malicious translation string that executes arbitrary code in the context of the XWiki application, resulting in full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability as reflected in the CVSS 9.9 score and CWE-862 classification.

Official patches are available in XWiki 14.10.20, 15.5.4, and 15.10RC1; the project advisory and linked commits detail the authorization checks restored in the translation editing path. As an interim measure, administrators can restrict edit rights on documents that store translations.

The EPSS score rose from lower values after disclosure to a peak of 0.3626 on 2025-12-11 before receding to the current 0.2330, indicating a period of increased exploitation interest that has since declined.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform. In multilingual wikis, translations can be edited by any user who has edit right, circumventing the rights that are normally required for authoring translations (script right for user-scope translations, wiki admin for translations…

more

on the wiki). Starting in version 4.3-milestone-2 and prior to versions 4.10.20, 15.5.4, and 15.10-rc-1, this can be exploited for remote code execution if the translation value is not properly escaped where it is used. This has been patched in XWiki 14.10.20, 15.5.4 and 15.10RC1. As a workaround, one may restrict edit rights on documents that contain translations.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
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.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
T1556 Modify Authentication Process Defense Impairment
Adversaries may modify authentication mechanisms and processes to access user credentials or enable otherwise unwarranted access to accounts.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2024-31981Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2024-55876Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2024-37898Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2025-46554Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2025-46557Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2023-41046Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2024-31997Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2024-55879Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2025-32973Same product: Xwiki Xwiki
CVE-2025-23025Same product: Xwiki Xwiki

Affected Assets

xwiki
xwiki
4.3 · 4.3.1 — 14.10.20 · 15.0 — 15.5.4 · 15.6 — 15.10

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 directly requires enforcement of authorization decisions on every access request, structurally eliminating missing authorization checks.

AC-24 mandates that access control decisions are applied to each request, preventing bypass of authorization logic.

AC-25 requires a tamperproof, always-invoked reference monitor that ensures authorization checks cannot be omitted.

AC-6 reduces the set of actions reachable without proper authorization, limiting blast radius of missing checks.

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.AA-05 full match
prevents

Explicitly requires defining, enforcing, and reviewing authorizations and least privilege, directly preventing missing authorization checks.

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.

prevents

Requiring authentication and credentials before any access occurs eliminates the absence of authorization checks that would otherwise allow an unauthenticated actor to reach protected resources.

prevents

Requiring formal authorization of every access request before rights are granted ensures that checks for required permissions are performed, preventing missing authorization checks from being introduced.

prevents

Mandatory authorization checks and central records of granted rights ensure that every access attempt is preceded by an explicit decision rather than relying on missing checks.

mitigates

Segregating the approval of access rights from their implementation provides an independent check that reduces the impact of missing authorization checks in the resulting system configuration.

finds

By requiring competent outsiders to verify that every function enforces the need-to-know principle, the control lowers the likelihood that missing authorization checks persist undetected.

prevents

Defining authorization responsibilities and reviewing risk-treatment progress throughout the project lifecycle catches missing authorization checks before the system is deployed.

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).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248581 OL 8 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-862
  • V-252656 The OL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-862
RHEL 7 (2 rules)
  • V-251704 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-862
  • V-204429 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that users must provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-862

References