Impact
It is possible to access the hash of a password by using the diff feature of the history whenever the object storing the password is deleted. Using that vulnerability it's possible for an attacker to have access to the hash password of a user if they have rights to edit the users' page.
Now with the default right scheme in XWiki this vulnerability is normally prevented on user profiles, except by users with Admin rights. Note that this vulnerability also impacts any extensions that might use passwords stored in xobjects: for those usecases it depends on the right of those pages.
There is currently no way to be 100% sure that this vulnerability has been exploited, as an attacker with enough privilege could have deleted the revision where the xobject was deleted after rolling-back the deletion. But again, this operation requires high privileges on the target page (Admin right). A page with a user password xobject which have in its history a revision where the object has been deleted should be considered at risk and the password should be changed there.
Patches
The vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 14.10.19, 15.5.4 and 15.9-rc-1 by performing a better check before dislaying data of a diff, to ensure it's not coming from a password field.
Workarounds
Admins should ensure that the user pages are properly protected: the edit right shouldn't be allowed for other users than Admin and owner of the profile (which is the default right).
Now there's not much workaround possible for a privileged user other than upgrading XWiki.
References
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
Impact
It is possible to access the hash of a password by using the diff feature of the history whenever the object storing the password is deleted. Using that vulnerability it's possible for an attacker to have access to the hash password of a user if they have rights to edit the users' page.
Now with the default right scheme in XWiki this vulnerability is normally prevented on user profiles, except by users with Admin rights. Note that this vulnerability also impacts any extensions that might use passwords stored in xobjects: for those usecases it depends on the right of those pages.
There is currently no way to be 100% sure that this vulnerability has been exploited, as an attacker with enough privilege could have deleted the revision where the xobject was deleted after rolling-back the deletion. But again, this operation requires high privileges on the target page (Admin right). A page with a user password xobject which have in its history a revision where the object has been deleted should be considered at risk and the password should be changed there.
Patches
The vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 14.10.19, 15.5.4 and 15.9-rc-1 by performing a better check before dislaying data of a diff, to ensure it's not coming from a password field.
Workarounds
Admins should ensure that the user pages are properly protected: the edit right shouldn't be allowed for other users than Admin and owner of the profile (which is the default right).
Now there's not much workaround possible for a privileged user other than upgrading XWiki.
References
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory: