Summary
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer vulnerable to arbitrary server side file writing from account through office converter
Workarounds
There are no known workarounds apart from disabling the office converter.
References
Impact
Triggering the office converter with a specially crafted file name allows writing the attachment's content to an attacker-controlled location on the server as long as the Java process has write access to that location. In particular in the combination with attachment moving, a feature introduced in XWiki 14.0, this is easy to reproduce but it also possible to reproduce in versions as old as XWiki 3.5 by uploading the attachment through the REST API which doesn't remove / or \ from the filename. As the mime type of the attachment doesn't matter for the exploitation, this could e.g., be used to replace the jar-file of an extension which would allow executing arbitrary Java code and thus impact the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the XWiki installation. To reproduce the issue on versions since XWiki 14.0, execute the following steps:
- Activate the office server
- Upload an arbitrary file with the extension .doc, e.g., to your user profile (you can use a regular plain text file, only the extension matters).
- Use the attachment move feature to rename the file to ../../../../../tmp/Hello from XWiki.txt where the latter part is the location of a file you want to write on the server. The number of ../ depends on the directory depth, the provided example should work on Linux with the demo distribution.
- Click the "preview" link to trigger the office converter
For information how to reproduce on older versions, see the Jira issue.
To the best of our knowledge, this attack is not possible when the office conversion process doesn't run as the code fails before the file is written.
Input manipulates file paths to reach files outside the intended directory, such as configuration or credential files. Typical impact: unauthorized file read or write outside the intended directory.
CVE-2023-37913 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 (14.10.8, 15.3-rc-1); upgrading removes the vulnerable code path.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
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. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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This vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 14.10.8 and 15.3RC1.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-37913? CVE-2023-37913 is a critical-severity path traversal vulnerability in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer (maven), affecting versions >= 3.5-milestone-1, < 14.10.8. It is fixed in 14.10.8, 15.3-rc-1. Input manipulates file paths to reach files outside the intended directory, such as configuration or credential files.
- How severe is CVE-2023-37913? CVE-2023-37913 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.
- Which versions of org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer are affected by CVE-2023-37913? org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importer (maven) versions >= 3.5-milestone-1, < 14.10.8 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-37913? Yes. CVE-2023-37913 is fixed in 14.10.8, 15.3-rc-1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-37913 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-37913 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
- What actually determines whether CVE-2023-37913 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.
- How do I fix CVE-2023-37913?
- Upgrade
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importerto 14.10.8 or later - Upgrade
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-office-importerto 15.3-rc-1 or later
- Upgrade