Summary
Possible CSRF attack at questionnaire templates preview
Workarounds
Disable the templates functionality or remove all available templates.
References
#11743
Impact
The CSRF authenticity token check is currently disabled for the questionnaire templates preview as per:
https://github.com/decidim/decidim/blob/3187bdfd40ea1c57c2c12512b09a7fec0b2bed08/decidim-templates/app/controllers/decidim/templates/admin/questionnaire_templates_controller.rb#L11
This was introduced by this commit in the PR that introduced this feature (#6247):
https://github.com/decidim/decidim/pull/6247/commits/5542227be66e3b6d7530f5b536069bce09376660
The issue does not imply a serious security thread as you need to have access also to the session cookie in order to see this resource. This URL does not allow modifying the resource but it may allow attackers to gain access to information which was not meant to be public.
A victim's authenticated browser session is used to submit forged requests to an application that cannot distinguish them from legitimate ones. Typical impact: state-changing actions performed as the victim without their consent.
CVE-2023-47635 has a CVSS score of 4.5 (Medium). The vector is network-reachable, high 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 (0.27.5); 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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#11743
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-47635? CVE-2023-47635 is a medium-severity cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in decidim-templates (rubygems), affecting versions >= 0.23.0, < 0.27.5. It is fixed in 0.27.5. A victim's authenticated browser session is used to submit forged requests to an application that cannot distinguish them from legitimate ones.
- How severe is CVE-2023-47635? CVE-2023-47635 has a CVSS score of 4.5 (Medium). 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 decidim-templates are affected by CVE-2023-47635? decidim-templates (rubygems) versions >= 0.23.0, < 0.27.5 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-47635? Yes. CVE-2023-47635 is fixed in 0.27.5. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-47635 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-47635 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-2023-47635 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-2023-47635? Upgrade
decidim-templatesto 0.27.5 or later.