CVE-2022-36099

XWiki Platform Wiki UI Main Wiki is software for managing subwikis on XWiki Platform, a generic wiki platform. Starting with version 5.3-milestone-2 and prior to versions 13.10.6 and 14.4, its possible to inject arbitrary wiki syntax including Groovy, Python and Velocity script macros via the request (URL parameter) using the XWikiServerClassSheet if the user has view access to this sheet and another page that has been saved with programming rights, a standard condition on a public read-only XWiki installation or a private XWiki installation where the user has an account. This allows arbitrary Groovy/Python/Velocity code execution which allows bypassing all rights checks and thus both modification and disclosure of all content stored in the XWiki installation. Also, this could be used to impact the availability of the wiki. This has been patched in versions 13.10.6 and 14.4. As a workaround, edit the affected document XWiki.XWikiServerClassSheet or WikiManager.XWikiServerClassSheet and manually perform the changes from the patch fixing the issue. On XWiki versions 12.0 and later, it is also possible to import the document XWiki.XWikiServerClassSheet from the xwiki-platform-wiki-ui-mainwiki package version 14.4 using the import feature of the administration application as there have been no other changes to this document since XWiki 12.0.

Weakness

The product prepares a structured message for communication with another component, but encoding or escaping of the data is either missing or done incorrectly. As a result, the intended structure of the message is not preserved.

Affected Software

Extended Description

Improper encoding or escaping can allow attackers to change the commands that are sent to another component, inserting malicious commands instead. Most products follow a certain protocol that uses structured messages for communication between components, such as queries or commands. These structured messages can contain raw data interspersed with metadata or control information. For example, “GET /index.html HTTP/1.1” is a structured message containing a command (“GET”) with a single argument ("/index.html") and metadata about which protocol version is being used (“HTTP/1.1”). If an application uses attacker-supplied inputs to construct a structured message without properly encoding or escaping, then the attacker could insert special characters that will cause the data to be interpreted as control information or metadata. Consequently, the component that receives the output will perform the wrong operations, or otherwise interpret the data incorrectly.

Potential Mitigations

• Use a vetted library or framework that does not allow this weakness to occur or provides constructs that make this weakness easier to avoid.
• For example, consider using the ESAPI Encoding control [REF-45] or a similar tool, library, or framework. These will help the programmer encode outputs in a manner less prone to error.
• Alternately, use built-in functions, but consider using wrappers in case those functions are discovered to have a vulnerability.
• If available, use structured mechanisms that automatically enforce the separation between data and code. These mechanisms may be able to provide the relevant quoting, encoding, and validation automatically, instead of relying on the developer to provide this capability at every point where output is generated.
• For example, stored procedures can enforce database query structure and reduce the likelihood of SQL injection.

Related Attack Patterns

• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/104.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/73.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/81.html
• https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/85.html

References

• https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/commit/fc77f9f53bc65a4a9bfae3d5686615309c0c76cc
• https://github.com/xwiki/xwiki-platform/security/advisories/GHSA-xr6m-2p4m-jvqf
• https://jira.xwiki.org/browse/XWIKI-19746