GHSA-9m7c-m33f-3429 is a medium-severity (CVSS 5.8) CWE-212 vulnerability in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-export-pdf-api. A fix is available for org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-export-pdf-api — see the affected versions and patch details below.
XWiki PDF export jobs store sensitive cookies unencrypted in job statuses
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- 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 GHSA-9m7c-m33f-3429.
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
GHSA-9m7c-m33f-3429 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 378,567 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-export-pdf-api☕org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-export-pdf-api☕org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-export-pdf-apiReal-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 PDF export uses a background job that runs on the server-side. Jobs like this have a status that is serialized in the permanent directory when the job is finished. The job status includes the job request. The PDF export job request is initialized, before the job starts, with some context information that is needed to replicate the HTTP request (used to trigger the export) in the background thread used to run the export job. This context information includes the cookies from the HTTP request that triggered the export. As a result, the user cookies (including the encrypted username and password) are stored in the permanent directory after the PDF export is finished. As the encryption key is stored in the same data directory (by default it is generated in data/configuration.properties), this means that this job status contains the equivalent of the plain text password of the user who requested the PDF export.
XWiki shouldn't store passwords in plain text, and it shouldn't be possible to gain access to plain text passwords by gaining access to, e.g., a backup of the data directory.
Patches
This vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 16.4.8, 16.10.7 and 17.4.0RC1.
Workarounds
We're not aware of any workarounds except for upgrading.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-export-pdf-api | ≥ 14.4.2&&< 16.4.8 | 16.4.8org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-export-pdf-api:16.4.8 |
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-export-pdf-api | ≥ 16.5.0-rc-1&&< 16.10.7 | 16.10.7org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-export-pdf-api:16.10.7 |
| ☕Maven | org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-export-pdf-api | ≥ 17.0.0-rc-1&&< 17.4.0-rc-1 | 17.4.0-rc-1org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-export-pdf-api:17.4.0-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-export-pdf-api, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-export-pdf-api to 16.4.8 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-9m7c-m33f-3429 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 GHSA-9m7c-m33f-3429 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-9m7c-m33f-3429. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-9m7c-m33f-3429 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-9m7c-m33f-3429 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.