CVE-2023-36470
Code injection in icon themes of XWiki Platform
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.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
10.0
Code injection in icon themes of XWiki Platform
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.
- Record
CVE-2023-36470- CVSS 3.1
- 10.0 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-74
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2023-1785
10.0
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.
- Record
EUVD-2023-1785- CVSS 3.1
- 10.0 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-fm68-j7ww-h9xf
9.9
XWiki Platform vulnerable to Code Injection in icon themes
Impact
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.
Patches
This 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.
Workarounds
There are no workarounds apart from upgrading to a version containing the fix.
References
- https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-20524
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/b0cdfd893912baaa053d106a92e39fa1858843c7
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/46b542854978e9caa687a5c2b8817b8b17877d94
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/79418dd92ca11941b46987ef881bf50424898ff4
- Record
GHSA-fm68-j7ww-h9xf- CVSS 3.1
- 9.9 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-74
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
9.9
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.
- Record
CVE-2023-36470- CVSS 3.1
- 9.9 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 3.1
- 8.8 High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-74
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
9.9
Code injection in icon themes of XWiki Platform
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.
- Record
CVE-2023-36470- CVSS 3.1
- 9.9 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-74
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-fm68-j7ww-h9xf
9.9
XWiki Platform vulnerable to Code Injection in icon themes
Impact
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.
Patches
This 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.
Workarounds
There are no workarounds apart from upgrading to a version containing the fix.
References
- https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-20524
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/b0cdfd893912baaa053d106a92e39fa1858843c7
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/46b542854978e9caa687a5c2b8817b8b17877d94
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/79418dd92ca11941b46987ef881bf50424898ff4
- Record
GHSA-fm68-j7ww-h9xf- CVSS 3.1
- 9.9 Critical
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-74
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-icon-defaultMaven |
6.2-milestone-1 up to 14.10.6 | 14.10.6 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-icon-scriptMaven |
6.2-milestone-1 up to 14.10.6 | 14.10.6 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-icon-scriptMaven |
15.0-rc-1 up to 15.2-rc-1 | 15.2-rc-1 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-icon-defaultMaven |
15.0-rc-1 up to 15.2-rc-1 | 15.2-rc-1 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-icon-uiMaven |
6.2-milestone-1 up to 14.10.6 | 14.10.6 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-icon-uiMaven |
15.0-rc-1 up to 15.2-rc-1 | 15.2-rc-1 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases, published | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2023-36470 is a critical vulnerability (CVSS 10.0) in Xwiki, published June 29, 2023. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.93%, the 80th percentile. Fixed in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-icon-default 14.10.6.
References
github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/security/advisories/GHSA-fm68-j7ww-h9xf
github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/46b542854978e9caa687a5c2b8817b8b17877d94
github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/79418dd92ca11941b46987ef881bf50424898ff4
github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/b0cdfd893912baaa053d106a92e39fa1858843c7
jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-20524
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-36470
github.com/advisories/GHSA-fm68-j7ww-h9xf
github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2023/36xxx/CVE-2023-36470.json
github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform