CVE-2023-36468: Xwiki platform oldcore Upgrading Doesn't Prevent Exploiting Vulnerable Vulnerability

CRITICAL
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-8q9q-r9v2-644m
CVSS 9.9
CWE-459
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2023-36468 is a CRITICAL (CVSS 9.9) upgrading doesn't prevent exploiting vulnerable vulnerability (CWE-459: Incomplete Cleanup) affecting Xwiki platform oldcore libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The issue involves upgrading doesn't prevent exploiting vulnerable xwiki documents. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 14.10.7, 15.2-rc-1.

CVE-2023-36468 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2023-36468
GHSA Identifier GHSA-8q9q-r9v2-644m
Severity CRITICAL
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 9.9
CWE Classification CWE-459: Incomplete Cleanup
Affected Product Xwiki platform oldcore
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 9.9

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Changed (S:C)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2023-36468

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Xwiki platform oldcore dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-oldcore fixed: 14.10.7
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.xwiki.platform</groupId>
    <artifactId>xwiki-platform-oldcore</artifactId>
    <version>14.10.7</version>
</dependency>
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-oldcore fixed: 15.2-rc-1
<dependency>
    <groupId>org.xwiki.platform</groupId>
    <artifactId>xwiki-platform-oldcore</artifactId>
    <version>15.2-rc-1</version>
</dependency>
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.xwiki.platform

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2023-36468, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.xwiki.platform

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Xwiki platform oldcore in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 14.10.7), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.xwiki.platform command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-459: Incomplete Cleanup, where the product does not properly "clean up" and remove temporary or supporting resources after they have been used. In Xwiki platform oldcore, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

### Impact When an XWiki installation is upgraded and that upgrade contains a fix for a bug in a document, just a new version of that document is added. In some cases, it's still possible to exploit the vulnerability that was fixed in the new version. The severity of this depends on the fixed vulnerability, for the purpose of this advisory take [CVE-2022-36100](https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/security/advisories/GHSA-2g5c-228j-p52x) as example - it is easily exploitable with just view rights and critical. When XWiki is upgraded from a version before the fix for it (e.g., 14.3) to a version including the fix (e.g., 14.4), the vulnerability can still be reproduced by adding `rev=1.1` to the URL used in the reproduction steps so remote code execution is possible even after upgrading. Therefore, this affects the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the whole XWiki installation. This vulnerability also affects manually added script macros that contained security vulnerabilities that were later fixed by changing the script macro without deleting the versions with the security vulnerability from the history. This vulnerability doesn't affect freshly installed versions of XWiki. Further, this vulnerability doesn't affect content that is only loaded from the current version of a document like the code of wiki macros or UI extensions. ### Patches This vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 14.10.7 and 15.2RC1 by forcing old revisions to be executed in a restricted mode that disables all script macros. ### Workarounds As a workaround, admins can manually delete old revisions of affected documents. A script could be used to identify all installed documents and delete the history for them. However, also manually added and later corrected code may be affected by this vulnerability so it is easy to miss documents. ### References * https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-20594 * https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/15a6f845d8206b0ae97f37aa092ca43d4f9d6e59

CVE-2023-36468 Affected Xwiki platform oldcore Versions

2 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
14.10.715.2-rc-1
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-oldcore
Maven
≥ 2.0
< 14.10.7
14.10.7
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-oldcore
Maven
≥ 15.0-rc-1
< 15.2-rc-1
15.2-rc-1

References

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2023-36468?
CVE-2023-36468 is a security vulnerability in Xwiki platform oldcore involving Upgrading doesn't prevent exploiting vulnerable XWiki documents under CWE-459: Incomplete Cleanup.
Which Xwiki platform oldcore versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 14.10.7, 15.2-rc-1 across affected packages: org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-oldcore.
What version fixes CVE-2023-36468?
Upgrading to 14.10.7, 15.2-rc-1 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is xwiki-platform-oldcore affected?
Yes, org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-oldcore is affected in releases prior to 14.10.7, 15.2-rc-1. Upgrade your dependency to 14.10.7, 15.2-rc-1 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2023-36468?
CVE-2023-36468 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.9 (CRITICAL) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2023-36468?
CVE-2023-36468 is classified under CWE-459: Incomplete Cleanup (The product does not properly "clean up" and remove temporary or supporting resources after they have been used.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2023-36468?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.xwiki.platform'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-8q9q-r9v2-644m",
  "modified" : "2023-06-30T20:42:07Z",
  "published" : "2023-06-30T20:42:07Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2023-36468" ],
  "summary" : "Upgrading doesn't prevent exploiting vulnerable XWiki documents",
  "details" : "### Impact\n\nWhen an XWiki installation is upgraded and that upgrade contains a fix for a bug in a document, just a new version of that document is added. In some cases, it's still possible to exploit the vulnerability that was fixed in the new version. The severity of this depends on the fixed vulnerability, for the purpose of this advisory take [CVE-2022-36100](https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/security/advisories/GHSA-2g5c-228j-p52x) as example - it is easily exploitable with just view rights and critical. When XWiki is upgraded from a version before the fix for it (e.g., 14.3) to a version including the fix (e.g., 14.4), the vulnerability can still be reproduced by adding `rev=1.1` to the URL used in the reproduction steps so remote code execution is possible even after upgrading. Therefore, this affects the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the whole XWiki installation. This vulnerability also affects manually added script macros that contained security vulnerabilities that were later fixed by changing the script macro without deleting the versions with the security vulnerability from the history.\n\nThis vulnerability doesn't affect freshly installed versions of XWiki. Further, this vulnerability doesn't affect content that is only loaded from the current version of a document like the code of wiki macros or UI extensions.\n\n### Patches\n\nThis vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 14.10.7 and 15.2RC1 by forcing old revisions to be executed in a restricted mode that disables all script macros.\n\n### Workarounds\n\nAs a workaround, admins can manually delete old revisions of affected documents. A script could be used to identify all installed documents and delete the history for them. However, also manually added and later corrected code may be affected by this vulnerability so it is easy to miss documents.\n\n### References\n\n* https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-20594\n* https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/15a6f845d8206b0ae97f37aa092ca43d4f9d6e59",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-oldcore"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "2.0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "14.10.7"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Maven",
      "name" : "org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-oldcore"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "15.0-rc-1"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "15.2-rc-1"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/security/advisories/GHSA-2g5c-228j-p52x"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/security/advisories/GHSA-8q9q-r9v2-644m"
  }, {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-36468"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/15a6f845d8206b0ae97f37aa092ca43d4f9d6e59"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-20594"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-459" ],
    "severity" : "CRITICAL",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2023-06-30T20:42:07Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2023-06-29T21:15:09Z"
  }
}