org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml's HTML sanitizer allows form elements in restricted

Description

Impact

The HTML sanitizer that is included in XWiki since version 14.6RC1 allowed form and input HTML tags. In the context of XWiki, this allows an attacker without script right to either create forms that can be used for phishing attacks or also in the context of a sheet, the attacker could add an input like {{html}}<input type="hidden" name="content" value="{{groovy}}println("Hello from Groovy!")" />{{/html}} that would allow remote code execution when it is submitted by an admin (the sheet is rendered as part of the edit form). The attacker would need to ensure that the edit form looks plausible, though, which can be non-trivial as without script right the attacker cannot display the regular content of the document.

Patches

This has been patched in XWiki 14.10.6 and 15.2RC1 by removing the central form-related tags from the list of allowed tags.

Workarounds

An admin can manually disallow the tags by adding form, input, select, textarea, button to the configuration option xml.htmlElementSanitizer.forbidTags in the xwiki.properties configuration file.

References

  • https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XCOMMONS-2634
  • https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-commons/commit/99484d48e899a68a1b6e33d457825b776c6fe8c3

Basic information

Type
reviewed
Severity
critical
Advisory on GitHub
Open advisory ↗
Repository advisory
Open repository advisory ↗
Source code
Browse source ↗
Published (advisory)
2023-06-30 20:41:50 UTC
Updated
2023-11-05 05:07:24 UTC
GitHub reviewed
2023-06-30 20:41:50 UTC
NVD published
2023-06-29

EPSS Score

Score Percentile
1.07% 77.58%

CVSS Scores

Base score Version Severity Vector
9.1 3.1
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.

Identifiers

CWEs

CWE id Name
CWE-74 Improper Neutralization of Special Elements in Output Used by a Downstream Component ('Injection')
CWE-79 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Affected packages (2)

Vulnerable version ranges and first patched releases as published by GitHub.

Ecosystem Package Vulnerable range First patched Vulnerable functions
maven org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml >= 14.6-rc-1, < 14.10.6 14.10.6
maven org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-xml >= 15.0-rc-1, < 15.2-rc-1 15.2-rc-1

References

cvelogic Threat Intelligence