CVE-2023-31126
📋 TL;DR
This vulnerability in XWiki's XML library allows attackers to inject arbitrary HTML code through invalid data attributes, leading to cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks. It affects XWiki installations using the vulnerable HTML sanitizer component. Users of XWiki versions 14.6-rc-1 through 14.10.3 are impacted.
💻 Affected Systems
- XWiki
- XWiki Commons XML library
📦 What is this software?
Xwiki by Xwiki
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete compromise of user sessions, account takeover, data theft, and potential server-side code execution if combined with other vulnerabilities.
Likely Case
Session hijacking, credential theft, defacement of wiki pages, and unauthorized actions performed as authenticated users.
If Mitigated
Limited impact if proper Content Security Policies are enforced and user input validation is implemented at application layer.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires user interaction (viewing malicious content) but doesn't require authentication.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: 14.10.4 or 15.0 RC1
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-commons/security/advisories/GHSA-pv7v-ph6g-3gxv
Restart Required: Yes
Instructions:
1. Backup your XWiki installation. 2. Download XWiki 14.10.4 or 15.0 RC1 from official sources. 3. Follow XWiki upgrade documentation for your deployment method. 4. Restart the XWiki service/application server.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
No workarounds available
allThe advisory states there are no known workarounds apart from upgrading.
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict Content Security Policy headers to limit script execution
- Deploy web application firewall rules to block suspicious HTML attribute patterns
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check XWiki version via Admin dashboard or by examining the WAR file version. Versions between 14.6-rc-1 and 14.10.3 are vulnerable.Check Version:
Check XWiki Admin dashboard or examine META-INF/MANIFEST.MF in xwiki-platform-web-war-*.warVerify Fix Applied:
Verify XWiki version is 14.10.4 or higher, or 15.0 RC1 or higher. Test HTML sanitization with malicious data attributes.📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- Unusual HTML content submissions
- Multiple failed sanitization attempts
- Suspicious data-* attribute patterns in user content
Network Indicators:
- HTTP requests containing malformed HTML attributes
- Patterns matching data attribute injection attempts
SIEM Query:
web.url:*data-* AND (web.url:*\/* OR web.url:*>* OR web.url:*<*)🔗 References
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-commons/commit/0b8e9c45b7e7457043938f35265b2aa5adc76a68
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-commons/security/advisories/GHSA-pv7v-ph6g-3gxv
- https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XCOMMONS-2606
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-commons/commit/0b8e9c45b7e7457043938f35265b2aa5adc76a68
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-commons/security/advisories/GHSA-pv7v-ph6g-3gxv
- https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XCOMMONS-2606
- https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XCOMMONS-2606
