Vulnerability Database

362,176

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2023-36470 — org.xwiki.platform / xwiki-platform-icon-default

Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection')

XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. By either creating a new or editing an existing document with an icon set, an attacker can inject XWiki syntax and Velocity code that is executed with programming rights and thus allows remote code execution. There are different attack vectors, the simplest is the Velocity code in the icon set's HTML or XWiki syntax definition. The icon picker can be used to trigger the rendering of any icon set. The XWiki syntax variant of the icon set is also used without any escaping in some documents, allowing to inject XWiki syntax including script macros into a document that might have programming right, for this the currently used icon theme needs to be edited. Further, the HTML output of the icon set is output as JSON in the icon picker and this JSON is interpreted as XWiki syntax, allowing again the injection of script macros into a document with programming right and thus allowing remote code execution. This impacts the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the whole XWiki instance. This issue has been patched in XWiki 14.10.6 and 15.1. Icon themes now require script right and the code in the icon theme is executed within the context of the icon theme, preventing any rights escalation. A macro for displaying icons has been introduced to avoid injecting the raw wiki syntax of an icon set into another document. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no known workarounds for this vulnerability.

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Critical
  • Score: 9.9
  • AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

CWEs:

Frequently Asked Questions

A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

A vulnerability is the underlying weakness. An exploit is the method or code used to take advantage of it. A zero-day is a vulnerability that is unknown to the vendor or has no publicly available fix when attackers begin using it. In practice, risk increases sharply when exploitation becomes reliable or widespread.

Recurring findings usually come from incomplete Asset Discovery, inconsistent patch management, inherited images, and configuration drift. In modern environments, you also need to watch the software supply chain: dependencies, containers, build pipelines, and third-party services can reintroduce the same weakness even after you patch a single host. Unknown or unmanaged assets (often called Shadow IT) are a common reason the same issues resurface.

Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

SynScan combines attack surface monitoring and continuous security auditing to keep your inventory current, flag high-impact vulnerabilities early, and help you turn raw findings into a practical remediation plan.