CVE-2023-29525 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.9) CWE-74 vulnerability in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war. 2 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Privilege escalation from view right on XWiki.Notifications.Code.LegacyNotificationAdministration in xwiki-platform
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-29525.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war☕org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war☕org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war☕org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-legacy-events-hibernate-uiReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Impact
Steps to reproduce:
Open <xwiki-host>/xwiki/bin/view/XWiki/Notifications/Code/LegacyNotificationAdministration?since=%7B%7B%2Fhtml%7D%7D+%7B%7Basync+async%3D%22true%22+cached%3D%22false%22+context%3D%22doc.reference%22%7D%7D%7B%7Bgroovy%7D%7Dprintln%28%22Hello+%22+%2B+%22from+groovy%21%22%29%7B%7B%2Fgroovy%7D%7D%7B%7B%2Fasync%7D%7D, where <xwiki-host> is the URL of your XWiki installation.
This demonstrates an XWiki syntax injection attack via the since-parameter, allowing privilege escalation from view to programming rights.
Patches
The vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 15.0-rc-1, 14.10.3, 14.4.8 and 14.10.3.
Workarounds
For versions >= 14.6-rc-1 the workaround is to modify the page XWiki.Notifications.Code.LegacyNotificationAdministration to add the missing escaping, as described on https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/8e7c7f90f2ddaf067cb5b83b181af41513028754#diff-4e13f4ee4a42938bf1201b7ee71ca32edeacba22559daf0bcb89d534e0225949R70
For versions < 14.6-rc-1 the workaround is to modify the file <xwikiwebapp>/templates/distribution/eventmigration.wiki to add the missing escaping, as described on https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/6d74e2e4aa03d19f0be385ab63ae9e0f0e90a766
References
https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-20287
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in Jira XWiki.org
- Email us at Security Mailing List
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war | ≥ 12.6.1&&< 13.10.11 | 13.10.11org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war:13.10.11 |
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war | ≥ 14.0-rc-1&&< 14.4.8 | 14.4.8org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war:14.4.8 |
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war | ≥ 14.5&&< 14.6-rc-1 | 14.6-rc-1org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war:14.6-rc-1 |
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-legacy-events-hibernate-ui | ≥ 14.6-rc-1&&< 14.10.3 | 14.10.3org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-legacy-events-hibernate-ui:14.10.3 |
Affected Products
xwikixwikiResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-distribution-war to 13.10.11 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-29525 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Close the privilege gap rather than the entry point: audit which accounts, roles and service identities can reach the affected operation, drop the component to the least privilege it actually needs, and review file and directory permissions created by earlier installs — a default left in place is what makes this reachable.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-29525 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.