CVE-2022-41933 Plaintext storage of password in org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-security-authentication-default
Attackers with database access can read plaintext passwords of users who used the forgotten password feature in XWiki.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- An administrator
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- A user has to click or open something
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2022-41933?
CVE-2022-41933 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Xwiki Xwiki, published on 23 Nov 2022. An attacker needs administrator access to exploit it, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Official description
XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform offering runtime services for applications built on top of it. When the `reset a forgotten password` feature of XWiki was used, the password was then stored in plain text in database. This only concerns XWiki 13.1RC1 and newer versions. Note that it only concerns the reset password feature available from the "Forgot your password" link in the login view: the features allowing a user to change their password, or for an admin to change a user password are not impacted. This vulnerability is particularly dangerous in combination with other vulnerabilities allowing to perform data leak of personal data from users, such as GHSA-599v-w48h-rjrm. Note that this vulnerability only concerns the users of the main wiki: in case of farms, the users registered on subwiki are not impacted thanks to a bug we discovered when investigating this. The problem has been patched in version 14.6RC1, 14.4.3 and 13.10.8. The patch involves a migration of the impacted users as well as the history of the page, to ensure no password remains in plain text in the database. This migration also involves to inform the users about the possible disclosure of their passwords: by default, two emails are automatically sent to the impacted users. A first email to inform about the possibility that their password have been leaked, and a second email using the reset password feature to ask them to set a new password. It's also possible for administrators to set some properties for the migration: it's possible to decide if the user password should be reset (default) or if the passwords should be kept but only hashed. Note that in the first option, the users won't be able to login anymore until they set a new password if they were impacted. Note that in both options, mails will be sent to users to inform them and encourage them to change their passwords.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-41933?
4 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-security-authentication-default. It affects 1 product.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-security-authentication-default Maven | From 13.1RC1 | 13.10.8 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-security-authentication-default Maven | From 13.1RC1 | 13.10.8 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-security-authentication-default Maven | From 14.0.0 | 14.4.3 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-security-authentication-default Maven | From 14.0.0 | 14.4.3 |
Products include Xwiki Xwiki.
How do I fix CVE-2022-41933?
Upgrade org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-security-authentication-default to a fixed version for your release line: 13.10.8 or 14.4.3.
Is CVE-2022-41933 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-41933 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Xwiki Xwiki
- CVE-2025-24893 XWiki Platform Eval Injection
- CVE-2025-53836 XWiki Rendering is vulnerable to RCE attacks when processing nested macros
- CVE-2024-55662 XWiki allows remote code execution through the extension sheet
- CVE-2024-55877 XWiki allows remote code execution from account through macro descriptions and XWiki.XWikiSyntaxMacrosList
- CVE-2024-37901 XWiki Platform vulnerable to remote code execution from account via SearchSuggestConfigSheet
Sources
Also known as GHSA-q2hm-2h45-v5g3.