CVE-2023-33977 | Stored cross site scripting (XSS) via unrestricted file upload in Kiwi TCMS

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Kiwi TCMS is an open source test management system for both manual and automated testing. Kiwi TCMS allows users to upload attachments to test plans, test cases, etc. Earlier versions of Kiwi TCMS had introduced upload validators in order to prevent potentially dangerous files from being uploaded and Content-Security-Policy definition to prevent cross-site-scripting attacks. The upload validation checks were not 100% robust which left the possibility to circumvent them and upload a potentially dangerous file which allows execution of arbitrary JavaScript in the browser. Additionally we've discovered that Nginx's `proxy_pass` directive will strip some headers negating protections built into Kiwi TCMS when served behind a reverse proxy. This issue has been addressed in version 12.4. Users are advised to upgrade. Users unable to upgrade who are serving Kiwi TCMS behind a reverse proxy should make sure that additional header values are still passed to the client browser. If they aren't redefining them inside the proxy configuration.

Published: 2023-06-06 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2023-33977 is rated High Exploit Risk (79.3/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 4.57%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2023-33977

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-33977

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-03-01 3.80% 4.57% +0.77%
2 2025-11-21 2.03% 3.80% +1.77%
3 2025-11-18 2.03%

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-33977

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.8 5.2 [email protected]
5.4 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
2.3 2.7 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-33977

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-33977

GHSA-2fqm-m4r2-fh98 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: pip — kiwitcms vulnerable to stored cross-site scripting via unrestricted file upload

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-33977

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
kiwitcms kiwi_tcms <= 12.3 cpe:2.3:a:kiwitcms:kiwi_tcms:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-33977

cvelogic Threat Intelligence