Skip to content

XWiki users can be tricked to execute scripts as the create page action doesn't display the page's title

Critical severity GitHub Reviewed Published Oct 25, 2023 in xwiki/xwiki-platform • Updated Nov 5, 2023

Package

maven org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web (Maven)

Affected versions

>= 7.2-milestone-2, < 14.10.12

Patched versions

14.10.12
maven org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templates (Maven)
< 14.10.12
>= 15.0-rc-1, < 15.5-rc-1
14.10.12
15.5-rc-1

Description

Impact

In XWiki, it is possible to pass a title to the page creation action that isn't displayed at first but then executed in the second step. This can be used by an attacker to trick a victim to execute code, allowing script execution if the victim has script right or remote code execution including full access to the XWiki instance if the victim has programming right.

For the attack to work, the attacker needs to convince the victim to visit a link like <xwiki-host>/xwiki/bin/create/NonExistingSpace/WebHome?title=$services.logging.getLogger(%22foo%22).error(%22Script%20executed!%22) where <xwiki-host> is the URL of the Wiki installation and to then click on the "Create" button on that page. The page looks like a regular XWiki page that the victim would also see when clicking the button to create a page that doesn't exist yet, the malicious code is not displayed anywhere on that page. After clicking the "Create" button, the malicious title would be displayed but at this point, the code has already been executed and the attacker could use this code also to hide the attack, e.g., by redirecting the victim again to the same page with an innocent title. It thus seems plausible that this attack could work if the attacker can place a fake "create page" button on a page which is possible with edit right.

Patches

This has been patched in XWiki 14.10.2 and 15.5RC1 by displaying the title already in the first step such that the victim can notice the attack before continuing.

Workarounds

It is possible to manually patch the modified files from the patch in an existing installation. For the JavaScript change, the minified JavaScript file would need to be obtained from a build of XWiki and replaced accordingly.

References

@michitux michitux published to xwiki/xwiki-platform Oct 25, 2023
Published by the National Vulnerability Database Oct 25, 2023
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Oct 25, 2023
Reviewed Oct 25, 2023
Last updated Nov 5, 2023

Severity

Critical
9.1
/ 10

CVSS base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2023-45135

GHSA ID

GHSA-ghf6-2f42-mjh9

Source code

Loading Checking history
See something to contribute? Suggest improvements for this vulnerability.