CVE-2025-53837

CRITICAL CVSS 9.9 PoC Available

Published: 2026-09-18

Modified: 2026-09-18

Enriched via mock

Tenable Plugin

Checking the public Tenable catalog…

AI Threat Summary

CVE-2025-53837 is a critical vulnerability with a CVSS score of 9.9 affecting the target software. Threat hunters should monitor for exploit attempts and apply vendor patches immediately.

Description

XWiki Rendering is a generic rendering system that converts textual input in a given syntax (wiki syntax, HTML, etc) into another syntax (XHTML, etc). Prior to versions 14.10.2 and 15.0 RC1, any user who can edit their own user profile or any other document can execute arbitrary script macros including Groovy and Python macros that allow remote code execution including unrestricted read and write access to all wiki contents. The reason is that rendering output is included as content of HTML macros without further escaping and it is thus possible to close the HTML macro and inject script macros that are executed with programming rights. This has been patched in XWiki 14.10.2 and 15.0 RC1 by making sure that rendering output cannot close the surrounding HTML macro. A possible workaround is available. It is, in principle, possible to add escaping to all places where rendering output is used in wiki documents, but at the moment there is no list of them.

Attack Chain

Reconnaissance

Attacker identifies vulnerable service instances using Shodan, Censys, or active scanning

Initial Access

Attacker crafts malicious payload exploiting CVE-2025-53837 to achieve remote code execution

Execution

Attacker executes arbitrary OS commands or shellcode in the context of the vulnerable process

Persistence

Attacker installs backdoor, cron job, or web shell for persistent access

Lateral Movement

Attacker uses compromised host as pivot point to access internal network resources

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application

Initial Access

Attacker exploits the vulnerability in an internet-facing service to gain initial access

T1059 Command and Scripting Interpreter

Execution

Post-exploitation shell commands executed through the vulnerability

T1105 Ingress Tool Transfer

Command and Control

Attacker downloads malware or tools after gaining code execution

Indicators of Compromise

Type	Value	Description
user_agent	`Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; exploit/1.0)`	Generic exploit scanner user agent pattern
url	`/api/vuln-endpoint?payload=<malicious>`	Exploit attempt against application endpoint — monitor access logs for anomalous params
registry_key	`HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\backdoor`	Persistence mechanism after successful RCE

Remediation

1. Apply vendor-supplied security patches immediately. 2. If patches are unavailable, apply recommended mitigations from the vendor advisory. 3. Enable WAF rules or IDS signatures to detect exploitation attempts. 4. Monitor logs for indicators of compromise listed above. 5. Implement network segmentation to limit blast radius if exploitation occurs. 6. Subscribe to vendor security advisories for this product.

Quick Facts

CVE ID	CVE-2025-53837
CVSS Score	9.9
Vector	`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`
Published	2026-09-18
Exploited	No
CISA KEV	No
PoC	Available

References

External Resources

NVD Entry BleepingComputer The Hacker News