CVE-2023-40176 | SXSS in the user profile via the timezone displayer

XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. Any registered user can exploit a stored XSS through their user profile by setting the payload as the value of the time zone user preference. Even though the time zone is selected from a drop down (no free text value) it can still be set from JavaScript (using the browser developer tools) or by calling the save URL on the user profile with the right query string. Once the time zone is set it is displayed without escaping which means the payload gets executed for any user that visits the malicious user profile, allowing the attacker to steal information and even gain more access rights (escalation to programming rights). This issue is present since version 4.1M2 when the time zone user preference was introduced. The issue has been fixed in XWiki 14.10.5 and 15.1RC1.

Published: 2023-08-23 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2023-40176 is rated High Risk (66.7/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 29.42%, 97th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2023-40176

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 2026-05-18 32.59% 29.42% -3.17%
2 2026-04-03 36.58% 32.59% -3.99%
3 2026-03-16 — 36.58% —

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2023-40176

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.0 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/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: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: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.
 2.3 6.0 [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-2023-40176

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2023-40176

GHSA-h8cm-3v5f-rgp6 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: maven — XWiki Platform Stored Cross-site Scripting in the user profile via the timezone displayer

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2023-40176

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
xwiki xwiki >= 4.1.1, < 14.10.5 cpe:2.3:a:xwiki:xwiki:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
xwiki xwiki 4.1 cpe:2.3:a:xwiki:xwiki:4.1:milestone2:*:*:*:*:*:*
xwiki xwiki 15.0 cpe:2.3:a:xwiki:xwiki:15.0:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
xwiki xwiki 15.0 cpe:2.3:a:xwiki:xwiki:15.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2023-40176

cvelogic Threat Intelligence