CVE-2023-37913 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.9) Path Traversal vulnerability in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer. 1 public exploit reference exists, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer — see the affected versions and patch details below.
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer vulnerable to arbitrary server side file writing from account through office converter
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-2023-37913.
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.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2023-37913 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer☕org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importerReal-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
Triggering the office converter with a specially crafted file name allows writing the attachment's content to an attacker-controlled location on the server as long as the Java process has write access to that location. In particular in the combination with attachment moving, a feature introduced in XWiki 14.0, this is easy to reproduce but it also possible to reproduce in versions as old as XWiki 3.5 by uploading the attachment through the REST API which doesn't remove / or \ from the filename. As the mime type of the attachment doesn't matter for the exploitation, this could e.g., be used to replace the jar-file of an extension which would allow executing arbitrary Java code and thus impact the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the XWiki installation. To reproduce the issue on versions since XWiki 14.0, execute the following steps:
- Activate the office server
- Upload an arbitrary file with the extension .doc, e.g., to your user profile (you can use a regular plain text file, only the extension matters).
- Use the attachment move feature to rename the file to ../../../../../tmp/Hello from XWiki.txt where the latter part is the location of a file you want to write on the server. The number of ../ depends on the directory depth, the provided example should work on Linux with the demo distribution.
- Click the "preview" link to trigger the office converter
For information how to reproduce on older versions, see the Jira issue.
To the best of our knowledge, this attack is not possible when the office conversion process doesn't run as the code fails before the file is written.
Patches
This vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 14.10.8 and 15.3RC1.
Workarounds
There are no known workarounds apart from disabling the office converter.
References
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer | ≥ 3.5-milestone-1&&< 14.10.8 | 14.10.8org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer:14.10.8 |
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer | ≥ 15.0-rc-1&&< 15.3-rc-1 | 15.3-rc-1org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer:15.3-rc-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-office-importer, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer to 14.10.8 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-37913 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2023-37913 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2023-37913. 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-2023-37913 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2023-37913 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.