CVE-2022-36100

XWiki Platform Applications Tag and XWiki Platform Tag UI vulnerable to Eval Injection

The tags document Main.Tags in XWiki didn't sanitize user inputs properly, allowing users with view rights on the document (default in a public wiki or for authenticated users on private wikis) to execute arbitrary Groovy, Python and Velocity code with programming rights. This allows bypassing all rights checks and thus both modification and disclosure of all content stored in the XWiki installation. Also, this could be used to impact the availability of the wiki. Some versions of XWiki XML-escaped the tag (e.g., version 3.1) but this isn't a serious limitation as string literals can be delimited by / in Groovy and < and > aren't necessary, e.g., to elevate privileges of the current user.

On XWiki versions before 13.10.4 and 14.2, this can be combined with the authentication bypass using the login action, meaning that no rights are required to perform the attack. The following URL demonstrates the attack: <server>/xwiki/bin/login/Main/Tags?xpage=view&do=viewTag&tag=%7B%7Basync+async%3D%22true%22+cached%3D%22false%22+context%3D%22doc.reference%22%7D%7D%7B%7Bgroovy%7D%7Dprintln%28%22hello+from+groovy%21%22%29%7B%7B%2Fgroovy%7D%7D%7B%7B%2Fasync%7D%7D, where <server> is the URL of the XWiki installations.

On current versions (e.g, 14.3), the issue can be exploited by requesting the URL <server>/xwiki/bin/view/Main/Tags?do=viewTag&tag=%7B%7Basync%20async%3D%22true%22%20cached%3D%22false%22%20context%3D%22doc.reference%22%7D%7D%7B%7Bgroovy%7D%7Dprintln(%22hello%20from%20groovy!%22)%7B%7B%2Fgroovy%7D%7D%7B%7B%2Fasync%7D%7D, where <server> is the URL of the server. On XWiki 2.0 (that contains version 1.7 of the tag application), the URL <server>/xwiki/bin/view/Main/Tags?do=viewTag&tag={{/html}}{{groovy}}println(%2Fhello from groovy!%2F){{%2Fgroovy}} demonstrates the exploit while on XWiki 3.1 the following URL demonstrates the exploit: <server>/xwiki/bin/view/Main/Tags?do=viewTag&tag={{/html}}{{footnote}}{{groovy}}println(%2Fhello%20from%20groovy!%2F){{%2Fgroovy}}{{/footnote}}.

Untrusted input is evaluated as executable code within the application's runtime environment. Typical impact: arbitrary code execution within the application's privilege context.

CVE-2022-36100 has a CVSS score of 9.9 (Critical). The vector is network-reachable, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. A fixed version is available (13.10.6, 14.4); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.

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This has been patched in the supported versions 13.10.6 and 14.4.

1. What is CVE-2022-36100? CVE-2022-36100 is a critical-severity code injection vulnerability in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-tag-ui (maven), affecting versions < 13.10.6. It is fixed in 13.10.6, 14.4. Untrusted input is evaluated as executable code within the application's runtime environment.
2. How severe is CVE-2022-36100? CVE-2022-36100 has a CVSS score of 9.9 (Critical). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
3. Which packages are affected by CVE-2022-36100?
   • org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-tag-ui (maven) (versions < 13.10.6)
   • org.xwiki.platform.applications:xwiki-application-tag (maven) (versions >= 1.7)
4. Is there a fix for CVE-2022-36100? Yes. CVE-2022-36100 is fixed in 13.10.6, 14.4. Upgrade to this version or later.
5. Is CVE-2022-36100 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2022-36100 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
6. What actually determines whether CVE-2022-36100 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
7. How do I fix CVE-2022-36100?
   • Upgrade org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-tag-ui to 13.10.6 or later
   • Upgrade org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-tag-ui to 14.4 or later

Other vulnerabilities in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-tag-ui