Summary
XWiki Platform vulnerable to XSS with edit right in the create document form for existing pages
Workarounds
The vulnerable template file createinline.vm is part of XWiki's WAR and can be patched by manually applying the changes from the fix.
Impact
When trying to create a document that already exists, XWiki displays an error message in the form for creating it. Due to missing escaping, this error message is vulnerable to raw HTML injection and thus XSS. The injected code is the document reference of the existing document so this requires that the attacker first creates a non-empty document whose name contains the attack code.
To reproduce, the following steps can be used:
- Go to
<xwiki-host>/xwiki/bin/create/Main/WebHome?parent=&templateprovider=&spaceReference=&name=%3Cimg%20onerror=%22alert(1)%22%20src=%22test%22where<xwiki-host>is the URL of your XWiki installation. - Create the page and add some content.
- Go again to
<xwiki-host>/xwiki/bin/create/Main/WebHome?parent=&templateprovider=&spaceReference=&name=%3Cimg%20onerror=%22alert(1)%22%20src=%22test%22where<xwiki-host>is the URL of your XWiki installation.
If an alert with content "1" is displayed, the installation is vulnerable. This allows an attacker to execute arbitrary actions with the rights of the user opening the malicious link. Depending on the rights of the user, this may allow remote code execution and full read and write access to the whole XWiki installation.
Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session. Typical impact: session or credential theft, and actions taken as the user.
CVE-2023-45137 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 (14.10.12, 15.5-rc-1, 13.4-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 has been patched in XWiki 14.10.12 and 15.5RC1 by adding the appropriate escaping.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-45137? CVE-2023-45137 is a critical-severity cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templates (maven), affecting versions < 14.10.12. It is fixed in 14.10.12, 15.5-rc-1, 13.4-rc-1. Untrusted input is rendered as active markup in a victim's browser, which can run script in their session.
- How severe is CVE-2023-45137? CVE-2023-45137 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-2023-45137?
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templates(maven) (versions < 14.10.12)org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web(maven) (versions >= 3.1-milestone-2, < 13.4-rc-1)
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-45137? Yes. CVE-2023-45137 is fixed in 14.10.12, 15.5-rc-1, 13.4-rc-1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-45137 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-45137 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-2023-45137 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-2023-45137?
- Upgrade
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templatesto 14.10.12 or later - Upgrade
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templatesto 15.5-rc-1 or later - Upgrade
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-webto 13.4-rc-1 or later
- Upgrade