CVE-2022-24819 is a vulnerability identified in the XWiki Platform, a widely used generic wiki platform that provides runtime services for applications built on top of it. The vulnerability is classified under CWE-359, which pertains to the exposure of private personal information to unauthorized actors. Specifically, this flaw allows guest users—who do not have the necessary permissions to view wiki pages—to still enumerate or list documents related to users of the wiki. This unintended information disclosure can lead to privacy violations and potentially facilitate further targeted attacks by revealing user-related metadata or document structures. The vulnerability affects XWiki Platform versions prior to 4.3, and patches have been released in versions 12.10.11, 13.4.4, and 13.9-rc-1 to address this issue. Notably, there is no known workaround available, meaning that affected installations must apply the official patches to remediate the risk. There are no known exploits in the wild at this time, but the nature of the vulnerability—exposing private user information without authentication—makes it a concern for organizations relying on XWiki for internal or external collaboration. The flaw arises from insufficient access control checks on document listing functionality accessible to guest users, allowing unauthorized enumeration of sensitive user-related documents.

For European organizations, the exposure of private personal information through this vulnerability can have significant privacy and compliance implications, especially under the GDPR framework which mandates strict controls over personal data. Unauthorized disclosure of user-related documents could lead to leakage of personally identifiable information (PII), potentially resulting in reputational damage, regulatory fines, and loss of trust. Organizations using XWiki for internal knowledge management, HR documentation, or customer-facing portals may inadvertently expose sensitive user data to anonymous external actors. While the vulnerability does not directly allow modification or deletion of data, the confidentiality breach alone is impactful. Additionally, attackers could leverage the exposed information to conduct social engineering, spear-phishing, or further reconnaissance to escalate attacks. The absence of a workaround increases the urgency for patching. The medium severity rating reflects the moderate impact on confidentiality without direct impact on integrity or availability, but the ease of exploitation (no authentication required) elevates the risk profile.

To mitigate this vulnerability effectively, European organizations should prioritize the following actions: 1) Immediate patching of all affected XWiki Platform instances to versions 12.10.11, 13.4.4, 13.9-rc-1, or later where the vulnerability is fixed. 2) Conduct a thorough audit of user permissions and access controls within XWiki to ensure that guest or anonymous users have minimal privileges and cannot access sensitive document listings. 3) Implement network-level access restrictions such as IP whitelisting or VPN requirements for accessing internal XWiki instances to reduce exposure to anonymous external actors. 4) Monitor access logs for unusual guest user activity that may indicate attempts to enumerate documents. 5) If immediate patching is not feasible, consider temporarily disabling guest access or restricting it via web server configurations to prevent unauthorized enumeration. 6) Educate administrators and users about the sensitivity of documents stored in XWiki and encourage the use of encryption or additional access controls for highly sensitive information. 7) Regularly review and update the XWiki platform and its plugins to incorporate security patches promptly. These steps go beyond generic advice by emphasizing access control audits, network restrictions, and monitoring tailored to the specific nature of this vulnerability.