Overview
In this blog post, we will delve into the recently discovered CVE-2025-55728 vulnerability that directly affects XWiki Remote Macros. This vulnerability is significant due to its ability to enable remote code execution in XWiki, a widely-used open-source wiki software. Given the popularity of XWiki across various sectors including education, business, and government, the impact of this vulnerability could potentially be far-reaching and severe.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-55728
Severity: Critical, CVSS Score 10.0
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage through remote code execution
Affected Products
Escape the Surveillance Era
Most apps won’t tell you the truth.
They’re part of the problem.
Phone numbers. Emails. Profiles. Logs.
It’s all fuel for surveillance.
Ameeba Chat gives you a way out.
- • No phone number
- • No email
- • No personal info
- • Anonymous aliases
- • End-to-end encrypted
Chat without a trace.
Product | Affected Versions
XWiki Remote Macros | 1.0 to 1.26.4
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies in the missing escaping of the ‘classes’ parameter in the panel macro of XWiki Remote Macros. This parameter is used without proper escaping in XWiki syntax, which leads to XWiki syntax injection. An attacker who can edit any page can exploit this security flaw to execute arbitrary code on the server running XWiki. The code execution occurs under the privileges of the user running the XWiki service, which could potentially lead to a total system compromise if the service is running with high-level privileges.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited using an HTTP POST request to inject malicious code:
POST /xwiki/bin/view/Main/ HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
form_token=abc123&editor=wiki&content={{velocity}}$xwiki.panelRenderer.renderPanelFromWiki("Main.Panel", {"classes":"com.xpn.xwiki.plugin.skinx.JsSkinExtensionPlugin"}){{/velocity}}In the above example, the `classes` parameter is used to call the `com.xpn.xwiki.plugin.skinx.JsSkinExtensionPlugin` class, which could allow the execution of arbitrary JavaScript code.
Mitigation and Remediation
Users of XWiki Remote Macros are advised to upgrade to version 1.26.5 or later as it contains a patch for the issue. As a temporary mitigation measure, a WAF (Web Application Firewall) or IDS (Intrusion Detection System) can be used to detect and block attacks attempting to exploit this vulnerability. However, this should not replace the need for applying the vendor-provided patch as soon as possible.
