CVE-2023-29520 in xwiki-platform-localization-source-wiki
Summary
by MITRE • 04/19/2023
XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. It's possible to break many translations coming from wiki pages by creating a corrupted document containing a translation object. This will lead to a broken page. The vulnerability has been patched in XWiki 15.0-rc-1, 14.10.1, 14.4.8, and 13.10.11. Users are advised to upgrade. There are no workarounds other than fixing any way to create a document that fail to load.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/13/2023
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-29520 affects the XWiki Platform, a comprehensive wiki platform that provides runtime services for applications built upon it. This platform serves as a foundation for collaborative environments where users create and manage content through wiki pages. The security flaw manifests when corrupted documents containing translation objects are processed by the system, leading to widespread translation failures across wiki pages. Such corruption results in broken pages that cannot properly display translated content, effectively disrupting user experience and potentially compromising the integrity of multilingual collaborative environments.
The technical nature of this vulnerability stems from insufficient input validation and sanitization within the document processing pipeline of XWiki Platform. When the system encounters a document containing malformed translation objects, it fails to properly handle the corrupted data during rendering operations. This represents a classic case of inadequate data validation that allows malformed input to propagate through the system and cause downstream failures. The vulnerability specifically impacts the translation subsystem where the platform attempts to load and display translated content from wiki pages, creating a cascading failure that affects multiple translation entries simultaneously.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple display issues, as it fundamentally undermines the reliability of multilingual wiki environments. Organizations relying on XWiki for collaborative documentation, knowledge management, or internationalization efforts face potential data integrity issues where translation objects become corrupted and prevent proper page rendering. This affects not only end users who encounter broken pages but also administrators who must manage and repair corrupted documents. The vulnerability particularly impacts environments where users have the ability to create and modify documents, as any user with appropriate permissions can potentially introduce corrupted translation objects that affect the entire system.
The remediation for CVE-2023-29520 requires immediate upgrading to patched versions of XWiki Platform including 15.0-rc-1, 14.10.1, 14.4.8, and 13.10.11. Organizations should prioritize this upgrade as a critical security measure to prevent potential exploitation that could lead to more severe impacts. While no specific workarounds are provided, the recommended approach involves fixing any methods that allow document creation failures, which aligns with defensive programming principles and input validation best practices. This vulnerability demonstrates the importance of robust input sanitization and validation in collaborative platforms, as highlighted by CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation) and aligns with ATT&CK techniques related to privilege escalation through application flaws. The patch addresses the root cause by implementing stricter validation of translation objects during document processing, preventing malformed data from corrupting the rendering pipeline and ensuring proper handling of multilingual content.