Summary
XWiki Platform's Groovy jobs check the wrong author, allowing remote code execution
Workarounds
There is no workaround.
References
Impact
XWiki supports scheduled jobs that contain Groovy scripts. Currently, the job checks the content author of the job for programming right. However, modifying or adding a job script to a document doesn't modify the content author. Together with a CSRF vulnerability in the job scheduler, this can be exploited for remote code execution by an attacker with edit right on the wiki.
For successful exploitation, the needs to have edit right on a document whose content has last been changed by a user with programming right. This could be the user profile for users created by admins. In this document, the attacker can create an object of class XWiki.SchedulerJobClass using the object editor. By setting job class to com.xpn.xwiki.plugin.scheduler.GroovyJob, cron expression to 0 0/5 * * * ? and job script to services.logging.getLogger("foo").error("Job content executed"), the attacker can create a job. Now this job just needs to be triggered or scheduled. This can be achieved by embedding an image with the following XWiki syntax in any document that is visited by an admin: [[image:path:/xwiki/bin/view/Scheduler/?do=trigger&which=Attacker.Document]] where Attacker.Document is the document that has been prepared by the attacker. If the attack is successful, an error log entry with "Job content executed" will be produced.
CVE-2023-40573 has a CVSS score of 9.0 (Critical). The vector is network-reachable, low privileges required, and user interaction required. 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 (14.10.9, 15.4-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 14.10.9 and 15.4RC1.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-40573? CVE-2023-40573 is a critical-severity security vulnerability in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-scheduler-api (maven), affecting versions < 14.10.9. It is fixed in 14.10.9, 15.4-rc-1.
- How severe is CVE-2023-40573? CVE-2023-40573 has a CVSS score of 9.0 (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 packages are affected by CVE-2023-40573?
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-scheduler-api(maven) (versions < 14.10.9)com.xpn.xwiki.platform.plugins:xwiki-plugin-scheduler(maven) (versions >= 1.3)
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-40573? Yes. CVE-2023-40573 is fixed in 14.10.9, 15.4-rc-1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-40573 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-40573 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-2023-40573 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-2023-40573?
- Upgrade
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-scheduler-apito 14.10.9 or later - Upgrade
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-scheduler-apito 15.4-rc-1 or later
- Upgrade