Summary
Run Shell Command allows Cross-Site Request Forgery
Workarounds
The patch can be applied manually to the affected wiki pages. Alternatively, the document Admin.RunShellCommand can also be deleted if the possibility to run shell commands isn't needed.
References
Impact
A cross site request forgery vulnerability in the admin tool for executing shell commands on the server allows an attacker to execute arbitrary shell commands by tricking an admin into loading the URL with the shell command. A very simple possibility for an attack are comments. When the attacker can leave a comment on any page in the wiki it is sufficient to include an image with an URL like /xwiki/bin/view/Admin/RunShellCommand?command=touch%20/tmp/attacked in the comment. When an admin views the comment, the file /tmp/attacked will be created on the server. The output of the command is also vulnerable to XWiki syntax injection which offers a simple way to execute Groovy in the context of the XWiki installation and thus an even easier way to compromise the integrity and confidentiality of the whole XWiki installation.
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-2023-48292 has a CVSS score of 9.6 (Critical). The vector is network-reachable, no 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 (4.5.1); 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.
Already deployed Kodem?
See it in your environmentNew to Kodem? Get a demo →Remediation advice
This has been patched by adding a form token check in version 4.5.1 of the admin tools.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2023-48292? CVE-2023-48292 is a critical-severity cross-site request forgery (CSRF) vulnerability in org.xwiki.contrib:xwiki-application-admintools (maven), affecting versions >= 4.4, < 4.5.1. It is fixed in 4.5.1. 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-2023-48292? CVE-2023-48292 has a CVSS score of 9.6 (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.contrib:xwiki-application-admintools are affected by CVE-2023-48292? org.xwiki.contrib:xwiki-application-admintools (maven) versions >= 4.4, < 4.5.1 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2023-48292? Yes. CVE-2023-48292 is fixed in 4.5.1. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2023-48292 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2023-48292 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-2023-48292 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-2023-48292? Upgrade
org.xwiki.contrib:xwiki-application-admintoolsto 4.5.1 or later.