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Users can be tricked to execute scripts as the create page action doesn't display the page's title

Critical
michitux published GHSA-ghf6-2f42-mjh9 Oct 25, 2023

Package

maven org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web (Maven)

Affected versions

>= 7.2-milestone-2, < 14.10.12

Patched versions

14.10.12
maven org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-web-templates (Maven)
< 14.10.12
>= 15.0-rc-1, < 15.5-rc-1
14.10.12
15.5-rc-1

Description

Impact

In XWiki, it is possible to pass a title to the page creation action that isn't displayed at first but then executed in the second step. This can be used by an attacker to trick a victim to execute code, allowing script execution if the victim has script right or remote code execution including full access to the XWiki instance if the victim has programming right.

For the attack to work, the attacker needs to convince the victim to visit a link like <xwiki-host>/xwiki/bin/create/NonExistingSpace/WebHome?title=$services.logging.getLogger(%22foo%22).error(%22Script%20executed!%22) where <xwiki-host> is the URL of the Wiki installation and to then click on the "Create" button on that page. The page looks like a regular XWiki page that the victim would also see when clicking the button to create a page that doesn't exist yet, the malicious code is not displayed anywhere on that page. After clicking the "Create" button, the malicious title would be displayed but at this point, the code has already been executed and the attacker could use this code also to hide the attack, e.g., by redirecting the victim again to the same page with an innocent title. It thus seems plausible that this attack could work if the attacker can place a fake "create page" button on a page which is possible with edit right.

Patches

This has been patched in XWiki 14.10.2 and 15.5RC1 by displaying the title already in the first step such that the victim can notice the attack before continuing.

Workarounds

It is possible to manually patch the modified files from the patch in an existing installation. For the JavaScript change, the minified JavaScript file would need to be obtained from a build of XWiki and replaced accordingly.

References

Severity

Critical

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CVE ID

CVE-2023-45135

Weaknesses

No CWEs