CVE-2023-37912 | XWiki Rendering's footnote macro vulnerable to privilege escalation via the footnote macro

Exp

XWiki Rendering is a generic Rendering system that converts textual input in a given syntax into another syntax. Prior to version 14.10.6 of `org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-core-rendering-macro-footnotes` and `org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes` and prior to version 15.1-rc-1 of `org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes`, the footnote macro executed its content in a potentially different context than the one in which it was defined. In particular in combination with the include macro, this allows privilege escalation from a simple user account in XWiki to programming rights and thus remote code execution, impacting the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the whole XWiki installation. This vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 14.10.6 and 15.1-rc-1. There is no workaround apart from upgrading to a fixed version of the footnote macro.

Published: 2023-10-25 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-37912 is rated High Exploit Risk (82/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 9.89%, 93th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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-2023-37912

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-37912

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 2025-11-21 28.58% 9.89% -18.69%
2 2025-11-18 9.89% 28.58% +18.69%
3 2025-04-15 — 9.89% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-37912

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.9 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.1 6.0 [email protected]
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 2.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2023-37912

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-37912

GHSA-35j5-m29r-xfq5 · Severity: high · Ecosystem: maven — XWiki Rendering's footnote macro vulnerable to privilege escalation via the footnote macro

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-37912

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xwiki xwiki-rendering < 14.10.6 cpe:2.3:a:xwiki:xwiki-rendering:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
xwiki xwiki-rendering 15.0 cpe:2.3:a:xwiki:xwiki-rendering:15.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-37912

cvelogic Threat Intelligence