Summary
XWiki allows privilege escalation through link refactoring
Workarounds
There's no workaround for this vulnerability, except preventing to perform any refactoring operation with users having more than edit rights.
Administrators are strongly advised to upgrade. If not possible, the patch only impacts module xwiki-platform-refactoring-default so it's possible to apply the commit and rebuild and deploy only that module.
CVSS explanation
Attack vector: Network - Always for XWiki.
Complexity: Low - The set of operations to perform the attack is quite easy.
Attack requirements: None - Any system is vulnerable, it doesn't depend on specific condition other than user interaction.
Privileges required: Low - The attacker only needs edit rights.
User interaction: Active - To be successful the attack needs someone with more rights to perform a move/rename of a specific page.
Confidentiality: High - The attack might lead to execution of any script.
Integrity: High - The attack might lead to execution of any script.
Availability: High - The attack might lead to execution of any script.
Subsequent system impacts: None for any criteria. Only current system is affected.
For more information
If you have any questions or comments about this advisory:
- Open an issue in Jira XWiki.org
- Email us at Security Mailing List
Impact
Pages can gain script or programming rights when they contain a link and the target of the link is renamed or moved. This might lead to execution of scripts contained in xobjects that should have never been executed.
This vulnerability affects all version of XWiki since 8.2 and 7.4.5.
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
The patch consists in only setting the originalMetadataAuthor when performing such change, so that it's displayed in the history but it has no impact on the right evaluation (i.e. the original author of the changes is still used for right computation).
This patch has been applied on XWiki 16.4.7, 17.1.0RC1, 16.10.4.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2025-49580? CVE-2025-49580 is a high-severity security vulnerability in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-refactoring-default (maven), affecting versions >= 17.0.0-rc-1, < 17.1.0-rc-1. It is fixed in 17.1.0-rc-1, 16.10.4, 16.4.7.
- Which versions of org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-refactoring-default are affected by CVE-2025-49580? org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-refactoring-default (maven) versions >= 17.0.0-rc-1, < 17.1.0-rc-1 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2025-49580? Yes. CVE-2025-49580 is fixed in 17.1.0-rc-1, 16.10.4, 16.4.7. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2025-49580 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-49580 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-2025-49580 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-2025-49580?
- Upgrade
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-refactoring-defaultto 17.1.0-rc-1 or later - Upgrade
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-refactoring-defaultto 16.10.4 or later - Upgrade
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-refactoring-defaultto 16.4.7 or later - Upgrade
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-refactoring-defaultto 16.4.7 or later
- Upgrade