CVE-2024-38369 is a critical-severity (CVSS 9.9) CWE-863 vulnerability in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-rendering-macro-include. A fix is available for org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-rendering-macro-include — see the affected versions and patch details below.
XWiki programming rights may be inherited by inclusion
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2024-38369.
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-2024-38369 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-rendering-macro-includeReal-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 content of a document included using {{include reference="targetdocument"/}} is executed with the right of the includer and not with the right of its author.
This means that any user able to modify the target document can impersonate the author of the content which used the include macro.
Patches
This has been patched in XWiki 15.0 RC1 by making the default behavior safe.
Workarounds
Make sure to protect any included document to make sure only allowed users can modify it.
A workaround have been provided in 14.10.2 to allow forcing to execute the included content with the target content author instead of the default behavior. See https://extensions.xwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Extension/Include%20Macro#HAuthor for more details.
References
https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-5027 https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-20471
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in Jira XWiki.org
- Email us at Security Mailing List
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-rendering-macro-include | all versions | 15.0-rc-1org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-rendering-macro-include:15.0-rc-1 |
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-rendering-macro-include, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-rendering-macro-include to 15.0-rc-1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2024-38369 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-2024-38369 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2024-38369. 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-2024-38369 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2024-38369 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.