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XwikiApplication

CVE-2024-43401

HIGH · 8.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-08-19
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 15.9 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable

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 · unedited
XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. A user without script/programming right can trick a user with elevated rights to edit a content with a malicious payload using a WYSIWYG editor. The user with elevated rights is not warned beforehand that they are going to edit possibly dangerous content. The payload is executed at edit time. This vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 15.10RC1.

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 confidence

XWiki Platform contains a vulnerability where an attacker without script/programming rights can embed malicious payloads in wiki content via the WYSIWYG editor. When a user with elevated rights edits this content, the payload executes without any warning about potentially dangerous code. This is a social-engineered stored XSS/remote code execution vector exploiting the lack of content sanitization and user consent before executing privileged edits.

MitigationUpgrade XWiki to version 15.10RC1 or later. Until patched, warn elevated-rights users to avoid editing content from untrusted sources and consider disabling the WYSIWYG editor for content that may be authored by lower-privilege users.

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
XwikiApplication
Affected:<= 15.9

CVSS 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
Low
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify XWiki version
    Check the installed XWiki version by accessing the administration panel (XWiki Administration > Info) or by looking at the xwiki-platform-core pom.xml file if you have access to the source. Alternatively, check the version displayed on the wiki homepage footer or in the installation directory.
    Affected if The installed version is 15.9 or earlier.
  2. Verify WYSIWYG editor is enabled
    Access XWiki administration: go to Administration > Editing > WYSIWYG Editor. Check if the WYSIWYG editor is enabled for the wiki. This can also be verified by checking the xwiki.cfg configuration file for the ' WYSIWYGEditor' or 'editor' configuration keys.
    Affected if The WYSIWYG editor is enabled and available to users.
  3. Check for users without script or programming rights
    Navigate to Administration > Users > User Directory. Review the list of users and their assigned rights. Look for users who do not have 'Script' or 'Programming' rights but have the ability to create or edit wiki content.
    Affected if There are users without script/programming rights who can create or edit content that could be edited by users with elevated rights.
  4. Confirm elevated-rights users exist
    Navigate to Administration > Users > Groups. Identify users who have elevated privileges such as 'Admin', 'Script', or 'Programming' rights, as these are the targets whose editing would trigger the malicious payload.
    Affected if Users with elevated rights (Admin, Script, Programming) exist who could edit content created by lower-privilege users.

A user is affected if they run XWiki version 15.9 or earlier with the WYSIWYG editor enabled and have a mix of low-privilege content creators and elevated-rights editors in their environment.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 15.9
Interim mitigation

Upgrade XWiki to version 15.10RC1 or later. Until patched, warn elevated-rights users to avoid editing content from untrusted sources and consider disabling the WYSIWYG editor for content that may be authored by lower-privilege users.

Recommended fix High confidence

XWiki 15.10RC1 or later (15.10.x series recommended)

  1. Ensure you have a backup of your current XWiki installation and database
  2. Download XWiki 15.10RC1 or a later stable version (15.10.x or newer) from the official XWiki downloads
  3. Follow the standard XWiki upgrade procedure: stop the current XWiki instance, replace the WAR file and libraries, update configuration files if needed, and restart the server
  4. Verify the upgrade was successful by logging in and testing wiki functionality
  5. Confirm the vulnerability is patched by testing that users without script/programming rights can no longer inject payloads that execute when elevated users edit content in the WYSIWYG editor
Caveat Review XWiki 15.10 release notes for any breaking changes or deprecations before upgrading

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Xwiki Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
13.0 hours of engineering $2,280
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An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,648.

Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-43401 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data