CVE-2023-37912
CRITICALXWiki Rendering's footnote macro vulnerable to privilege escalation via the footnote macro
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.rendering:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes☕org.xwiki.rendering:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes☕org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-core-rendering-macro-footnotesReal-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 Rendering is a generic Rendering system that converts textual input in a given syntax into another syntax. Prior to version 14.10.6 of org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-core-rendering-macro-footnotes and org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes and prior to version 15.1-rc-1 of org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes, the footnote macro executed its content in a potentially different context than the one in which it was defined. In particular in combination with the include macro, this allows privilege escalation from a simple user account in XWiki to programming rights and thus remote code execution, impacting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the whole XWiki installation. This vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 14.10.6 and 15.1-rc-1. There is no workaround apart from upgrading to a fixed version of the footnote macro.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.rendering:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes | all versions | 14.10.6 |
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.rendering:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes | ≥ 15.0-rc-1&&< 15.1-rc-1 | 15.1-rc-1 |
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-core-rendering-macro-footnotes | all versions | 14.10.6 |
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.rendering:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes. 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.rendering:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes to 14.10.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-37912 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-2023-37912 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-2023-37912. 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-2023-37912 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2023-37912 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.