CVE-2026-53966 XWiki Platform: Privilege escalation from edit to script right through Live Data editing
Attackers with edit rights can escalate privileges to script rights via Live Data API, enabling code execution and bypassing security controls.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-53966?
CVE-2026-53966 is a high-severity vulnerability in xwiki-platform, published on 15 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
XWiki Platform is a generic wiki platform. From 13.4-rc-1 until 16.10.17, 17.4.10, 17.10.4, and 18.1.0-rc-1, the Live Data edit REST API allows a user who can edit a page to change that page's rights without executing the normal document-saving authorization checks. The user can grant script right and then execute potentially dangerous Velocity scripts or send unfiltered HTML and JavaScript to clients. The same missing checks can circumvent extension security controls implemented as listeners for UserUpdatingDocumentEvent and related user document events. This issue is fixed in versions 16.10.17, 17.4.10, 17.10.4, and 18.1.0-rc-1.
Weakness: CWE-862
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-53966?
8 open source packages ship an affected version, including org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-livedata-livetable.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-livedata-livetable Maven | From 13.4-rc-1 | 16.10.17 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-livedata-livetable Maven | From 13.4-rc-1 | 16.10.17 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-livedata-livetable Maven | From 17.0.0-rc-1 | 17.4.10 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-livedata-livetable Maven | From 17.0.0-rc-1 | 17.4.10 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-livedata-livetable Maven | From 17.5.0-rc-1 | 17.10.4 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-livedata-livetable Maven | From 17.5.0-rc-1 | 17.10.4 |
2 more packages
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-livedata-livetable Maven | From 18.0.0-rc-1 | 18.1.0-rc-1 |
org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-livedata-livetable Maven | From 18.0.0-rc-1 | 18.1.0-rc-1 |
How do I fix CVE-2026-53966?
Upgrade org.xwiki.platform:xwiki-platform-livedata-livetable to a fixed version for your release line: 16.10.17, 17.4.10, 17.10.4 or 18.1.0-rc-1.
Is CVE-2026-53966 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-53966 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-45ph-gxxr-gwgw.