Atomicorp WAF Research Note: CVE-2025-51990

XWiki – Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

CVE Details

• Already protected by existing Atomicorp WAF rules
• Protection status: Understanding Atomicorp WAF Protection Status
• CVE: CVE-2025-51990
• Name: XWiki – Stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)
• Severity: Medium
• CVSS: 4.8 (v3.1) (Medium)
• CVSS version: 3.1
• CVSS source: N/A
• CVSS vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
  • Attack vector: Network
  • Attack complexity: Low
  • Privileges required: High
  • User interaction: Required
  • Scope: Changed
  • Confidentiality impact: Low
  • Integrity impact: Low
  • Availability impact: None
• CWE: CWE-79 — Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation (‘Cross-site Scripting’)
• Related CAPEC attack patterns (via MITRE CWE relationships): CAPEC-209 (opens in a new tab) , CAPEC-588 (opens in a new tab) , CAPEC-591 (opens in a new tab) , CAPEC-592 (opens in a new tab) , CAPEC-63 (opens in a new tab) , CAPEC-85 (opens in a new tab)
• Vendor: xwiki
• Vulnerable product: xwiki
• CVE published: 2025-08-20
• CVE last modified: 2026-06-17
• Affected versions (NVD configurations):
  • xwiki: <= 17.3.0
• EPSS: 0.0050; 41.1th percentile (FIRST (opens in a new tab) )
• Latest Update: 2026-09-06
• Selected Rule IDs observed: 342259
• Matching rules: 1; rules with blocking actions: 1
• Would-block Rule IDs: 342259
• Request surfaces inspected: JSON request data, Request argument names, Request arguments, Request cookies, Request headers, SOAP request data, XML request data

Vulnerability Description

XWiki through version 17.3.0 is affected by multiple stored Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerabilities in the Administration interface, specifically under the Presentation section of the Global Preferences panel. An authenticated administrator can inject arbitrary JavaScript payloads into the HTTP Meta Info, Footer Copyright, and Footer Version fields. These inputs are stored and subsequently rendered without proper output encoding or sanitization on public-facing pages. As a result, the injected scripts are persistently executed in the browser context of any visitor to the affected instances including both authenticated and unauthenticated users. No user interaction is required beyond visiting a page that includes the malicious content. Successful exploitation can lead to session hijacking, credential theft, unauthorized actions via session riding, or further compromise of the application through client-side attacks. The vulnerability introduces significant risk in any deployment, especially in shared or internet-facing environments where administrator credentials may be compromised.

Recommended Actions

1. Maintain the observed Atomicorp protections. Keep your Atomicorp commercial rules current and confirm that the selected observed rules (342259 ) have not been locally disabled. Atomicorp commercial rules are enabled by default. If you use Atomic WAF, review the applicable policy and rule settings.

2. Apply the vendor’s remediation. WAF protection is defense in depth and does not replace upgrading or following the affected vendor’s guidance.

   • No specific CNA/vendor solution or workaround is included in the current CVE Record (opens in a new tab) . Review the vendor’s security advisories and supported-release guidance before making changes.

3. Validate after changes. Confirm rule updates are current, review WAF events for the affected application, and test application behavior after vendor upgrades, mitigations, or local policy changes.

Research Notes

Atomicorp WAF protections are designed around attack techniques and exploit behaviors, allowing existing protections to apply across multiple vulnerabilities without requiring a unique rule for every CVE.

Public Vulnerability References

• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• CVE Record (opens in a new tab)
• Exploit or technical research: https://github.com/malcxlmj/cve-writeups/blob/main/CVE-2025-51990.md (opens in a new tab)

Test or Research Source

• Source: http/cves/2025/CVE-2025-51990.yaml (opens in a new tab)
• Tags: authenticated, stored-xss, xss, xwiki

Research Note Context

This research note documents exploit-technique analysis associated with this vulnerability and references Atomicorp WAF protections observed during engineering review, testing, or validation activities.

Atomicorp security controls are generally designed to identify and mitigate attack techniques and exploit behaviors rather than individual CVE identifiers. As a result, protections developed for one vulnerability may also apply to related attack variants and future vulnerabilities using similar techniques.

Learn More

Atomicorp develops commercially supported security technologies for web applications, servers, endpoints, workloads, and legacy enterprise platforms.

Organizations interested in protecting systems against exploit techniques associated with vulnerabilities such as this one can learn more about:

• Atomic ModSecurity Rules: commercially maintained WAF rules for ModSecurity deployments, including protections for web attacks, bots, scanners, malware, exploitation attempts, and emerging vulnerability classes.
• Atomic WAF: an enterprise web application firewall with Atomicorp rules, centralized management, reporting, authentication controls, and operational tooling.
• Atomic ModSecurity Integrator: a special licensing option for MSPs, MSSPs, OEMs, VARs, reverse proxy providers, and other integrators who want to incorporate Atomicorp ModSecurity rule technology into their own products or services.
• Atomic OSSEC: an enterprise OSSEC-based intrusion detection, compliance, and security monitoring platform.
• Atomic Protector: workload protection for Linux, web, cloud, data center, and hybrid environments.

For additional information, product evaluations, or technical discussions, visit https://www.atomicorp.com/ or https://modsecurity.io/ (opens in a new tab) .