How severe is CVE-2023-29528?

CVE-2023-29528 has a CVSS score of 9/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-29528?

CVE-2023-29528 affects the following packages: org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2023-29528?

Update org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml to 14.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-29528 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-29528 in my Maven dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-29528 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.

Is CVE-2023-29528 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 1 known exploit references for CVE-2023-29528, including 1 in-the-wild exploitation observed on GitHub and other sources. Treat this as actively exploitable and prioritize patching immediately. All exploit code should only be run in an isolated sandbox environment for research or authorized testing — never against production systems without explicit written authorization.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-29528?

CVE-2023-29528 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.3%, placing it in the 70th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2023-29528?

CVE-2023-29528 is classified as Cross-site Scripting (XSS) (CWE-79). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2023-29528 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-29528 was published on April 20, 2023 and was last updated on October 28, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

☕

☕ Maven

Not in CISA KEV

CRITICAL severity

CVE-2023-29528 — xwiki-commons-xml

CRITICALFix: xwiki/xwiki-commons@8ff1a9d

CVE-2023-29528 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml — see the affected versions and patch details below.

Cross-site Scripting in org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml

Also known asGHSA-x37v-36wv-6v6h

Published

Apr 20, 2023

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

1 pkg

Patched

1 / 1

Exploits

1 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 3, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

Exploitation Status

No confirmed exploitation observed yet

A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.

Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2023-29528.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.3%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs70th percentile — riskier than 70% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

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

1 pkg affected

☕org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml

Real-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

The "restricted" mode of the HTML cleaner in XWiki, introduced in version 4.2-milestone-1 and massively improved in version 14.6-rc-1, allowed the injection of arbitrary HTML code and thus cross-site scripting via invalid HTML comments. As a consequence, any code relying on this "restricted" mode for security is vulnerable to JavaScript injection ("cross-site scripting"/XSS). An example are anonymous comments in XWiki where the HTML macro filters HTML using restricted mode:

{{html}}
<!--> <Details Open OnToggle=confirm("XSS")>
{{/html}}

When a privileged user with programming rights visits such a comment in XWiki, the malicious JavaScript code is executed in the context of the user session. This allows server-side code execution with programming rights, impacting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the XWiki instance.

Note that while all versions since 4.2-milestone-1 should be vulnerable, only starting with version 14.6-rc-1 the HTML comment is necessary for the attack to succeed due to another vulnerability that has been patched in version 14.6-rc-1.

Patches

This problem has been patched in XWiki 14.10, HTML comments are now removed in restricted mode and a check has been introduced that ensures that comments don't start with >.

Workarounds

There are no known workarounds apart from upgrading to a version including the fix.

References

For more information

If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:

Open an issue in Jira XWiki
Email us at XWiki Security mailing-list

Attribution

This vulnerability was reported on Intigriti by ynoof @Ynoof5.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml`	≥ 4.2-milestone-1&&< 14.10	14.10`org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml:14.10`

Affected Products

1 product · 6 configurations

Application

commonsxwiki

≥ 4.3 && < 14.10

1 version

4.2

Exploits & PoCs

Research use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.

XWiki Commons are technical libraries common to several other top level …

jira.xwiki.orgNVDMay 2023

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml to 14.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-29528 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact The "restricted" mode of the HTML cleaner in XWiki, introduced in version 4.2-milestone-1 and massively improved in version 14.6-rc-1, allowed the injection of arbitrary HTML code and thus cross-site scripting via invalid HTML comments. As a consequence, any code relying on this "restricted" mode for security is vulnerable to JavaScript injection ("cross-site scripting"/XSS). An example are anonymous comments in XWiki where the HTML macro filters HTML using restricted mode: ```html {{html}} <!--> <Details Open OnToggle=confirm("XSS")> {{/html}} ``` When a privileged user with prog