How severe is CVE-2024-31996?

CVE-2024-31996 has a CVSS score of 10/10, rated CRITICAL. Immediate patching is strongly recommended.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2024-31996?

CVE-2024-31996 affects the following packages: org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity (Maven), org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity (Maven), org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity (Maven). Ecosystems affected: Maven.

How do I fix CVE-2024-31996?

Update org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity to 14.10.19 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-31996 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2024-31996 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-velocity, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2024-31996 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.

Is CVE-2024-31996 actively exploited in the wild?

Yes. There are 2 known exploit references for CVE-2024-31996, including 2 in-the-wild exploitations 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-2024-31996?

CVE-2024-31996 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 2.1%, placing it in the 82th 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-2024-31996?

CVE-2024-31996 is classified as CWE-95 (CWE-95), Code Injection (CWE-94). These weakness types 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-2024-31996 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2024-31996 was published on April 10, 2024 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-2024-31996 — xwiki-commons-velocity

CRITICALFix: xwiki/xwiki-commons@b080516

CVE-2024-31996 is a critical-severity (CVSS 10) CWE-95 vulnerability in org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity. 2 public exploit or proof-of-concept references are indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity — see the affected versions and patch details below.

XWiki Commons missing escaping of `{` in Velocity escapetool allows remote code execution

Also known asGHSA-hf43-47q4-fhq5

Published

Apr 10, 2024

Updated

Oct 28, 2026

Affected

3 pkgs

Patched

3 / 3

Exploits

2 known

Exploitation data as of Nov 5, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

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.
CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
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-2024-31996.

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

2.1%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs82th percentile — riskier than 82% 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

3 pkgs affected

☕org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity☕org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity☕org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity

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 HTML escaping of escaping tool that is used in XWiki doesn't escape {, which, when used in certain places, allows XWiki syntax injection and thereby remote code execution.

To reproduce in an XWiki installation, open <xwiki-host>/xwiki/bin/view/Panels/PanelLayoutUpdate?place=%7B%7B%2Fhtml%7D%7D%7B%7Basync%20async%3Dfalse%7D%7D%7B%7Bvelocity%7D%7D%23evaluate(%24request.eval)%7B%7B%2Fvelocity%7D%7D%7B%7B%2Fasync%7D%7D&eval=Hello%20from%20URL%20Parameter!%20I%20got%20programming%3A%20%24services.security.authorization.hasAccess(%27programming%27) where <xwiki-host> is the URL of your XWiki installation. If this displays You are not admin on this place Hello from URL Parameter! I got programming: true, the installation is vulnerable.

Patches

The vulnerability has been fixed on XWiki 14.10.19, 15.5.5, and 15.9 RC1.

Workarounds

Apart from upgrading, there is no generic workaround. However, replacing $escapetool.html by $escapetool.xml in XWiki documents fixes the vulnerability. In a standard XWiki installation, we're only aware of the document Panels.PanelLayoutUpdate that exposes this vulnerability, patching this document is thus a workaround. Any extension could expose this vulnerability and might thus require patching, too.

References

Affected Packages

3 total 3 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
☕Maven	`org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity`	≥ 3.0.1&&< 14.10.19	14.10.19`org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity:14.10.19`
☕Maven	`org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity`	≥ 15.0-rc-1&&< 15.5.4	15.5.4`org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity:15.5.4`
☕Maven	`org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity`	≥ 15.6-rc-1&&< 15.9-rc-1	15.9-rc-1`org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity:15.9-rc-1`

Affected Products

1 product · 3 configurations

Application

xwikixwiki

≥ 15.6 && < 15.9

range

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 Platform is a generic wiki platform. Starting in version 3.0.1 and…

jira.xwiki.orgNVDJan 2025

Report on jira.xwiki.org

jira.xwiki.orgNVDJan 2025

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-velocity, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity to 14.10.19 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-31996 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Stop passing untrusted input into the interpreter or shell: call the affected binary with an argument array rather than a composed command string, reject anything outside a strict allowlist of expected values, and run the component under an account that cannot reach beyond the work it legitimately does.

Frequently Asked Questions

### Impact The HTML escaping of escaping tool that is used in XWiki doesn't escape `{`, which, when used in certain places, allows XWiki syntax injection and thereby remote code execution. To reproduce in an XWiki installation, open `<xwiki-host>/xwiki/bin/view/Panels/PanelLayoutUpdate?place=%7B%7B%2Fhtml%7D%7D%7B%7Basync%20async%3Dfalse%7D%7D%7B%7Bvelocity%7D%7D%23evaluate(%24request.eval)%7B%7B%2Fvelocity%7D%7D%7B%7B%2Fasync%7D%7D&eval=Hello%20from%20URL%20Parameter!%20I%20got%20programming%3A%20%24services.security.authorization.hasAccess(%27programming%27)` where `<xwiki-host>` is the URL