CVE-2025-54990

Executive Summary

CVE-2025-54990 is a missing authorization vulnerability in the XWiki AdminTools extension, affecting versions prior to 1.1. The vulnerability allows unauthenticated or low-privileged users to access the AdminTools.SpammedPages page, which should be restricted to administrators. While no sensitive data is directly exposed, the page is accessible to non-admin users, violating the principle of least privilege. The CVSS score is 5.3 (Medium), and the EPSS score is 0.0%, indicating low exploitation likelihood. No public exploit code or PoC is available. The vendor has released a patch in version 1.1, and a workaround exists by restricting view rights.

Supply Chain & Package Security

This vulnerability affects the XWiki AdminTools extension, which is a component of the XWiki platform. XWiki is a Java-based open-source wiki software. The vulnerability is not in a package manager (NPM, PyPI, Go, Ruby) but in a Maven/Gradle dependency. Organizations using XWiki with the AdminTools extension should verify their version and apply the patch or workaround.

CVSS Breakdown & Threat Level

• CVSS Score: 5.3 (Medium)
• Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
• Attack Vector: Network
• Attack Complexity: Low
• Privileges Required: None
• User Interaction: None
• Scope: Unchanged
• Confidentiality Impact: Low (page accessible, but no data visible)
• Integrity Impact: None
• Availability Impact: None

The threat level is considered Medium due to the low complexity and no required privileges, but the impact is limited to unauthorized access to a page without data exposure.

Deep Dive & Mechanics

The vulnerability resides in the XWiki AdminTools extension, specifically in the AdminTools.SpammedPages page. The page is intended to be accessible only to users with admin rights. However, due to a missing authorization check, the page is accessible to any user, including unauthenticated ones. The page itself does not display sensitive data, but its accessibility violates security best practices and could be used as a stepping stone for further attacks.

The root cause is the lack of a proper view right restriction on the AdminTools.SpammedPages page. In XWiki, pages can have access rights defined. The AdminTools space should have view rights restricted to the XWikiAdminGroup, but this was not enforced in versions prior to 1.1.

Vulnerable vs. Patched Code

Vulnerable Code (prior to 1.1): The AdminTools.SpammedPages page does not have any explicit view rights restriction, allowing any user to access it.

Patched Code (version 1.1): The patch adds a view right restriction to the AdminTools.SpammedPages page, limiting access to users with admin rights. The specific code change is not publicly available, but the workaround involves setting the view rights for the AdminTools space to be only available for the XWikiAdminGroup.

Exploitation & Lab Setup

Red Team

1. Setup: Deploy XWiki with AdminTools extension version < 1.1.
2. Exploitation: Access the AdminTools.SpammedPages page directly via URL: http://target/xwiki/bin/view/AdminTools/SpammedPages.
3. Verification: Confirm that the page is accessible without authentication.

Blue Team

1. Detection: Monitor access logs for requests to AdminTools.SpammedPages from non-admin users.
2. Mitigation: Apply the workaround by restricting view rights for the AdminTools space to XWikiAdminGroup.
3. Patch: Upgrade to AdminTools version 1.1.

Indicators of Compromise (IOCs)

• URL Pattern: /xwiki/bin/view/AdminTools/SpammedPages
• Access Logs: Requests to the above URL from IPs not associated with admin users.
• User Agents: Any user agent accessing the page without proper authentication.

Detection Engineering

YARA Rule

rule CVE_2025_54990_XWiki_AdminTools_SpammedPages {
    meta:
        description = "Detects access to AdminTools.SpammedPages page"
        author = "Valters IT"
        date = "2025-04-10"
        reference = "CVE-2025-54990"
    strings:
        $url = "/AdminTools/SpammedPages"
    condition:
        $url
}

Sigma Rule

title: XWiki AdminTools SpammedPages Access
id: 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789012
status: experimental
description: Detects access to AdminTools.SpammedPages page
author: Valters IT
date: 2025-04-10
references:
    - https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-54990
logsource:
    category: webserver
    product: apache
detection:
    selection:
        cs-uri-stem|contains: "/AdminTools/SpammedPages"
    condition: selection
falsepositives:
    - Legitimate admin access
level: medium

Suricata Rule

alert http any any -> any any (msg:"CVE-2025-54990 XWiki AdminTools SpammedPages Access"; flow:to_server; content:"/AdminTools/SpammedPages"; http_uri; classtype:attempted-recon; sid:1000001; rev:1;)

Remediation & Mitigation

1. Immediate: Apply the workaround by setting view rights for the AdminTools space to only be available for the XWikiAdminGroup.
2. Permanent: Upgrade to AdminTools version 1.1 or later.
3. Monitoring: Enable logging and monitoring for access to AdminTools.SpammedPages and alert on non-admin access.
4. Review: Conduct a security review of other AdminTools pages for similar issues.

Valters IT
Senior DevSecOps & Cyber Threat Intelligence Expert