CVE-2025-66473VulnerabilityPublished 10 Dec 2025

CVE-2025-66473: xwiki-platform · Unthrottled Resource Allocation

Affects xwiki-platformSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 8.7 High : upgrade to 16.10.11 soon.

Data as of 25 Oct 2026, 19:02 UTC

CVSS 4.0 base score

8.7High

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 34% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 16.10.11

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Attack Vector: Network
Attack Complexity: Low
Attack Requirements: None
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None
Vulnerable system integrity: None
Vulnerable system availability: High
Subsequent system confidentiality: None
Subsequent system integrity: None
Subsequent system availability: None

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable system is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed below, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed “remotely exploitable” and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: The attacker must take no measurable action to exploit the vulnerability. The attack requires no target-specific circumvention to exploit the vulnerability. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable system.
Attack Requirements: None: The successful attack does not depend on the deployment and execution conditions of the vulnerable system. The attacker can expect to be able to reach the vulnerability and execute the exploit under all or most instances of the vulnerability.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files of the vulnerable system to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any human user, other than the attacker.
Vulnerable system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Vulnerable System.
Vulnerable system availability: High: There is a total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the Vulnerable System; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the Vulnerable System (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).
Subsequent system confidentiality: None: There is no loss of confidentiality within the Subsequent System or all confidentiality impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the Subsequent System or all integrity impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.
Subsequent system availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the Subsequent System or all availability impact is constrained to the Vulnerable System.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v4.0 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 10 Dec 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 2026-10-25.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade org.xwiki/xwiki-platform to 16.10.11.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
Mavenorg.xwiki/xwiki-platform`pkg:maven/org.xwiki/xwiki-platform`Other threats	Affected <16.10.11	Fixed in 16.10.11

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

European organizations should immediately assess their XWiki deployments to identify affected versions. Upgrading to XWiki versions 16.10.11, 17.4.4, or later releases that include the fix is the most effective mitigation. If immediate upgrading is not feasible, organizations should implement network-level protections such as rate limiting and IP filtering on the REST API endpoints to restrict excessive requests. Deploying Web Application Firewalls (WAFs) with custom rules to detect and block unusually large API requests can reduce exploitation risk. Monitoring API usage patterns and setting alerts for abnormal request volumes will help detect potential attacks early. Additionally, organizations should review and harden API access controls, even though this vulnerability does not require authentication, to reduce the attack surface. Regular vulnerability scanning and patch management processes should be enforced to prevent exploitation of this and similar vulnerabilities.

Description

XWiki is an open-source wiki software platform. Versions 16.10.10 and below, 17.0.0-rc-1 through 17.4.3 and 17.5.0-rc-1 through 17.6.0 contain a REST API which doesn't enforce any limits for the number of items that can be requested in a single request at the moment. Depending on the number of pages in the wiki and the memory configuration, this can lead to slowness and unavailability of the wiki. As an example, the /rest/wikis/xwiki/spaces resource returns all spaces on the wiki by default, which are basically all pages. This issue is fixed in versions 17.4.4 and 16.10.11.

Impact

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the availability of internal or public-facing wiki services running vulnerable XWiki versions. Organizations relying on XWiki for documentation, knowledge sharing, or collaboration could experience service outages or severe performance degradation if exploited. This could disrupt business operations, delay project workflows, and reduce productivity. Public sector entities, research institutions, and enterprises with critical knowledge management systems are particularly vulnerable. Additionally, denial-of-service conditions could be leveraged as part of multi-vector attacks or to distract security teams. The lack of authentication requirement broadens the threat landscape, allowing external attackers to target these systems easily. Given the widespread use of open-source wiki platforms in Europe, the impact could be substantial if patches are not applied promptly.

Summary

CVE-2025-66473 is a resource exhaustion vulnerability classified under CWE-770 (Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling) affecting the XWiki open-source wiki platform. The flaw exists in the REST API endpoints, such as /rest/wikis/xwiki/spaces, which by default return all spaces (essentially all pages) without enforcing any limits on the number of items returned per request. This lack of throttling allows an unauthenticated remote attacker to issue requests that demand excessive server memory and processing resources, potentially overwhelming the system. The vulnerability impacts multiple versions: all versions up to 16.10.10, release candidates 17.0.0-rc-1 through 17.4.3, and 17.5.0-rc-1 through 17.6.0. The excessive resource consumption can degrade performance severely or cause the wiki service to become unavailable, effectively resulting in a denial-of-service (DoS) condition. The vulnerability does not require any privileges or user interaction, making exploitation straightforward. The vendor addressed the issue by introducing limits on the number of items returned in API responses starting with versions 16.10.11 and 17.4.4. No known exploits are currently reported in the wild, but the high CVSS score (8.7) reflects the potential impact if exploited. The vulnerability affects confidentiality minimally but has a high impact on availability, with integrity unaffected. The attack vector is network-based with low attack complexity and no required privileges or user interaction.

CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: HighCWE Top 25 (2025): #25
The product allocates a reusable resource or group of resources on behalf of an actor without imposing any intended restrictions on the size or number of resources that can be allocated.
Requirements
Clearly specify the minimum and maximum expectations for capabilities, and dictate which behaviors are acceptable when resource allocation reaches limits.
Architecture and Design
Limit the amount of resources that are accessible to unprivileged users. Set per-user limits for resources. Allow the system administrator to define these limits. Be careful to avoid CWE-410.
Architecture and Design
Design throttling mechanisms into the system architecture. The best protection is to limit the amount of resources that an unauthorized user can cause to be expended.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Abuse Case (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V8.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
V13.4.1 (opens in a new tab)
V11.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
Attack patterns
XML Ping of the Death (opens in a new tab)
Exponential Data Expansion (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data Parameter Blowup (opens in a new tab)
Serialized Data with Nested Payloads (opens in a new tab)
Oversized Serialized Data Payloads (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 17 Dec 2025, 23:12 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-770

Technical details

References

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