CVE-2023-25837
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThere is a Cross‑Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Esri ArcGIS Enterprise Sites versions 10.9 and below that may allow a remote, authenticated attacker to create a crafted link which, when clicked by a victim, could result in the execution of arbitrary JavaScript code in the target’s browser. Exploitation requires high‑privileged authenticated access. Successful exploitation may allow the attacker to access sensitive session data, manipulate trusted content, and disrupt normal application functionality, resulting in a high impact to confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceA stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in Esri ArcGIS Enterprise Sites versions 10.9 and below allows an authenticated attacker with high-privileged access to inject malicious JavaScript code via crafted links. When victims click these links, the arbitrary JavaScript executes in their browsers, enabling session hijacking, content manipulation, and disruption of application functionality.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data>= 10.8.1, <= 10.9CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- High
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify if ArcGIS Enterprise Sites is deployedCheck the ArcGIS Enterprise administration portal for the Sites module. Navigate to the ArcGIS Portal Directory (typically at https://[server]/arcgis/portaladmin or through the ArcGIS Enterprise Portal homepage under the Content section to verify Sites functionality exists.Affected if ArcGIS Enterprise Sites functionality is present in the environment
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Verify Portal for ArcGIS versionAccess the ArcGIS Enterprise Portal administrative interface or check the installed version via the Portal Directory API at https://[server]/arcgis/portaladmin/system/platforminfo. Locate the 'portalVersion' or 'currentVersion' field to confirm the exact version number.Affected if The installed version is 10.8.1, 10.8.2, 10.9, or any version within the range >= 10.8.1 and <= 10.9
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Confirm high-privileged user access existsReview the Portal for ArcGIS user roles in the Organization settings. Navigate to the 'Members' section in the Portal admin interface and examine which accounts hold administrator-level or high-privileged roles (such as Administrator, Publisher, or custom roles with elevated permissions).Affected if Multiple high-privileged accounts exist or external/high-privileged user authentication is enabled, increasing the attack surface for authenticated XSS injection
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Inspect Sites content for suspicious linksIn the ArcGIS Enterprise Portal, open the Sites application and review all published site pages, navigation links, and embedded content. Check the HTML source or link destinations for any unexpected JavaScript: or other potentially malicious script references.Affected if Any crafted links containing javascript: protocols or script tags are found within Site pages or navigation elements
A user is affected if ArcGIS Enterprise Sites is running with Portal for ArcGIS versions 10.8.1 through 10.9 and high-privileged accounts have access to create or modify site content.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade to ArcGIS Enterprise Sites version 10.9.1 or later, or apply the vendor-supplied patch to remediate the XSS vulnerability.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-25837 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-25837 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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