How severe is CVE-2023-40176?

CVE-2023-40176 has a CVSS score of 9/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2023-40176?

CVE-2023-40176 affects the following packages: org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templates (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2023-40176?

Update org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templates to 14.10.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-40176 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2023-40176 in my Maven dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templates. 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.

How do I mitigate CVE-2023-40176 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

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 does O3 Security protect against CVE-2023-40176?

O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2023-40176 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.

Is CVE-2023-40176 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2023-40176 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2023-40176?

CVE-2023-40176 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 78.9%, placing it in the 100th 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. A score above 50% indicates significantly elevated exploitation risk — immediate patching is strongly recommended.

When was CVE-2023-40176 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2023-40176 was published on August 23, 2023 and was last updated on April 10, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

CVE-2023-40176: SXSS in the user profile via the timezone displ…

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

78.9%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Very High Risk100th percentile+49.46%

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

1 pkg affected

☕org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templates

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

XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. Any registered user can exploit a stored XSS through their user profile by setting the payload as the value of the time zone user preference. Even though the time zone is selected from a drop down (no free text value) it can still be set from JavaScript (using the browser developer tools) or by calling the save URL on the user profile with the right query string. Once the time zone is set it is displayed without escaping which means the payload gets executed for any user that visits the malicious user profile, allowing the attacker to steal information and even gain more access rights (escalation to programming rights). This issue is present since version 4.1M2 when the time zone user preference was introduced. The issue has been fixed in XWiki 14.10.5 and 15.1RC1.

Affected Packages

1 total 1 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templates`	≥ 4.1-milestone-2&&< 14.10.5	14.10.5

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.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templates. 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-web-templates to 14.10.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2023-40176 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-2023-40176 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-2023-40176. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.

Frequently Asked Questions

XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. Any registered user can exploit a stored XSS through their user profile by setting the payload as the value of the time zone user preference. Even though the time zone is selected from a drop down (no free text value) it can still be set from JavaScript (using the browser developer tools) or by calling the save URL on the user profile with the right query string. Once the time zone is set it is displayed without escaping which means the payload gets executed for any user that visits the mal

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2023-40176 in your dependencies?

O3 detects CVE-2023-40176 across Maven dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVE-2023-40176