CVE-2024-31996: XWiki Commons missing escaping of `{` in Velocity escapetool allows remote code execution
Impact The HTML escaping of escaping tool that is used in XWiki doesn't escape {, which, when used in certain places, allows XWiki syntax injection and thereby remote code execution. To reproduce in an XWiki installation, open…
Published Apr 10, 2024 · Updated Jan 9, 2025
Affected packages
org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity
- Ecosystem
- Maven
- Affected
- >= 3.0.1, < 14.10.19
- Fixed in
- 14.10.19
- Check
mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity
org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity
- Ecosystem
- Maven
- Affected
- >= 15.0-rc-1, < 15.5.4
- Fixed in
- 15.5.4
- Check
mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity
org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity
- Ecosystem
- Maven
- Affected
- >= 15.6-rc-1, < 15.9-rc-1
- Fixed in
- 15.9-rc-1
- Check
mvn dependency:tree -Dincludes=org.xwiki.commons:xwiki-commons-velocity
Advisory details
From the GitHub Advisory Database (CC BY 4.0).
Impact
The HTML escaping of escaping tool that is used in XWiki doesn't escape {, which, when used in certain places, allows XWiki syntax injection and thereby remote code execution.
To reproduce in an XWiki installation, open <xwiki-host>/xwiki/bin/view/Panels/PanelLayoutUpdate?place=%7B%7B%2Fhtml%7D%7D%7B%7Basync%20async%3Dfalse%7D%7D%7B%7Bvelocity%7D%7D%23evaluate(%24request.eval)%7B%7B%2Fvelocity%7D%7D%7B%7B%2Fasync%7D%7D&eval=Hello%20from%20URL%20Parameter!%20I%20got%20programming%3A%20%24services.security.authorization.hasAccess(%27programming%27) where <xwiki-host> is the URL of your XWiki installation. If this displays You are not admin on this place Hello from URL Parameter! I got programming: true, the installation is vulnerable.
Patches
The vulnerability has been fixed on XWiki 14.10.19, 15.5.5, and 15.9 RC1.
Workarounds
Apart from upgrading, there is no generic workaround. However, replacing $escapetool.html by $escapetool.xml in XWiki documents fixes the vulnerability. In a standard XWiki installation, we're only aware of the document Panels.PanelLayoutUpdate that exposes this vulnerability, patching this document is thus a workaround. Any extension could expose this vulnerability and might thus require patching, too.
References
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-commons/commit/b94142e2a66ec32e89eacab67c3da8d91f5ef93a
- https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XCOMMONS-2828
- https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-21438
References
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-commons/security/advisories/GHSA-hf43-47q4-fhq5
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-commons/commit/b0805160ec7b01ee12417e79cb384e60ae4817aa
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-commons/commit/b94142e2a66ec32e89eacab67c3da8d91f5ef93a
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-commons/commit/ed7ff515a2436a1c6dcbd0c6ca0c41e434d58915
- https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XCOMMONS-2828
- https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-21438
- https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-31996
- https://github.com/advisories/GHSA-hf43-47q4-fhq5
How this page is made: the data panel comes from the GitHub Advisory Database, CISA’s KEV catalog, the NVD and FIRST EPSS, and updates twice a day. No analysis has been written for this entry yet. Methodology