CVE-2023-36477
CRITICALPersistent Cross-site Scripting (XSS) through CKEditor Configuration pages in XWiki Platform
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
Blast Radius
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-ckeditor-ui☕org.xwiki.contrib:application-ckeditor-ui☕org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-ckeditor-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
XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. Any user with edit rights can edit all pages in the CKEditor' space. This makes it possible to perform a variety of harmful actions, such as removing technical documents, leading to loss of service and editing the javascript configuration of CKEditor, leading to persistent XSS. This issue has been patched in XWiki 14.10.6 and XWiki 15.1. This issue has been patched on the CKEditor Integration extension 1.64.9 for XWiki version older than 14.6RC1. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade may manually address the issue by restricting the editanddeleterights to a trusted user or group (e.g. theXWiki.XWikiAdminGroupgroup), implicitly disabling those rights for all other users. See commit9d9d86179` for details.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-ckeditor-ui | ≥ 14.6-rc-1&&< 14.10.6 | 14.10.6 |
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.contrib:application-ckeditor-ui | ≥ 1.9&&< 1.64.9 | 1.64.9 |
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-ckeditor-ui | ≥ 15.0-rc-1&&< 15.1 | 15.1 |
Research 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-ckeditor-ui. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-ckeditor-ui to 14.10.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-36477 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-36477 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2023-36477. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2023-36477 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2023-36477 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.