Attack ChainAIDerived
Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain
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AccessReach public api.php endpoint
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DeliveryFetch anonymous CSRF token (+\)
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ExploitCall smwtask table-statistics, enumerate object IDs
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ExecutionEnqueue job via insert-job (e.g. entityIdDisposer)
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PersistForce synchronous run via run-joblist
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ImpactDegrade performance and alter semantic data
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A01:2025 - Broken Access Control
ASVS 5.0
V8 - Authorization Authorization checks on every request
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Privilege Escalation The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Exploitation Conditions | No special conditions - remote unauthenticated exploitation against default configurations of Semantic MediaWiki (3.0.0 through 7.2.1), because the smwtask API module was introduced in 3.x and ships enabled by default with no authorization check. The CSRF token 'gate' is not a limit: MediaWiki hands anonymous callers the fixed public token '+\', so any unauthenticated request satisfies it. The practical LIMITS are impact-related, not access-related: the sensitivity of disclosed statistics scales with how populated the wiki is, and the performance/integrity impact scales with store size and job cost, so an empty or tiny wiki yields little of value. Mitigation per the vendor is upgrading to 7.3.0+, or, if upgrading is not possible, unsetting $GLOBALS['wgAPIModules']['smwtask'] in LocalSettings.php to disable the endpoint. |
| Impact | This is a genuine but moderate-priority issue, and the signals are consistent rather than conflicting. The CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N) describes fully remote, low-complexity, unauthenticated reachability against default installs, which the GHSA advisory corroborates: the smwtask API module performs no authorization check and the only gate (needsToken('csrf')) is satisfied by MediaWiki's fixed public anonymous token '+\'. Impact is deliberately scored low across the board (VC:L/VI:L/VA:L) because the attacker gains internal store statistics and object-ID enumeration (confidentiality), the ability to enqueue/execute maintenance jobs and reach entity-disposal operations that alter semantic data (integrity), and performance degradation via forced synchronous job/query execution (availability) - but not code execution, credential theft, or full data compromise. SSVC reinforces moderate urgency: Exploitation=none (no observed active exploitation and not CISA KEV), Automatable=yes (the whole chain is a handful of unauthenticated HTTP requests against a predictable endpoint, so mass scanning/abuse is feasible), Technical Impact=partial. No EPSS score was supplied, so widespread-exploitation probability cannot be quantified from this input. A detailed, reproduced proof-of-concept is published in the vendor's own GHSA advisory, which raises real-world likelihood above a theoretical finding. Net: real and worth patching (the vuln.today priority is 'this_month'), but it is a lower-impact authorization gap, not a critical RCE - the moderate 6.9 score accurately reflects that. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | An unauthenticated attacker fetches the public anonymous CSRF token from api.php, then POSTs to action=smwtask with task=table-statistics to read internal store statistics and enumerate object IDs, and with task=insert-job / task=run-joblist to enqueue and synchronously execute maintenance jobs - degrading performance and, via smw.entityIdDisposer against enumerated IDs, altering stored semantic data. A working proof-of-concept (curl commands reproduced against a default install on master) is published in the vendor GHSA advisory. The CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N) confirms this needs only remote, low-complexity, unauthenticated requests with no user interaction. |
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Alert meAnalysisAIv1 – Oct 28, 2026
Missing authorization in the Semantic MediaWiki smwtask API module allows unauthenticated remote visitors to invoke maintenance operations that the wiki reserves for administrators, affecting releases 3.0.0 through 7.2.1. A caller can read internal store statistics and object-ID space, enqueue arbitrary Semantic MediaWiki jobs, and force synchronous execution of queued jobs, degrading performance and, via entity-disposal tasks aimed at enumerated IDs, altering stored semantic data - with impact scaling to how populated and how large the wiki's store is. There is no confirmed active exploitation (not in CISA KEV; SSVC exploitation is 'none'), though the vendor advisory includes reproduction proof-of-concept requests and exploitation is automatable; the vendor fix is 7.3.0.
RemediationAI
Vendor-released patch: Semantic MediaWiki 7.3.0 - upgrading to 7.3.0 or later is the complete fix and the vendor's stated primary remediation (advisory: https://github.com/SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki/security/advisories/GHSA-jr78-w6w5-m8f8). If upgrading is not immediately possible, the vendor's documented workaround is to disable the endpoint entirely by registering an extension function in LocalSettings.php that unsets $GLOBALS['wgAPIModules']['smwtask'] (for example $wgExtensionFunctions[] = static function () { unset( $GLOBALS['wgAPIModules']['smwtask'] ); };) - the trade-off is that any client, script or integration relying on action=smwtask stops working, and the change must be maintained until the upgrade is applied. Per the advisory, the CSRF token requirement is not a mitigation, since anonymous callers receive the fixed public token '+\' and satisfy it trivially; there is no separate permission or configuration switch short of removing the module from the API registry. Prioritization signal from the aggregated data is 'this_month' (SSVC exploitation: none, automatable: yes, technical impact: partial), so remediation should be scheduled rather than treated as an emergency, with populated, high-traffic wikis addressed first because both the sensitivity of the disclosed store statistics and the performance/integrity impact scale with store size and job cost.
Affected VersionsENISA
Affected Packages
Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)
Affects your stack
Affects 2 packages in composer, euvd
Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
Semantic MediaWiki extends MediaWiki with a structured semantic store, and its maintenance operations (rebuilding fulltext search tables, property statistics, disposing entity IDs) are normally exposed through Special:SMWAdmin, which is constructed with the 'smw-admin' right and raises PermissionsError when that right is absent. The API equivalent, SMW\MediaWiki\Api\Task::execute() in src/MediaWiki/Api/Task.php, reads the request parameters, resolves a task through TaskFactory and runs it, with no permission check of any kind - no 'smw-admin', no checkUserRightsAny(), no per-task right. The only gates are needsToken('csrf'), mustBePosted() and isWriteMode(); the CSRF token check is not authorization because MediaWiki issues anonymous callers the fixed public token '+\', so any unauthenticated request satisfies it, and the POST/write-mode flags do not gate on group membership. This is CWE-862 (Missing Authorization): the API path simply bypasses the access control enforced on the web-UI path. The advisory confirms the anonymous reachability of table-statistics and duplicate-lookup (store row counts, highest object ID, per-namespace breakdowns, blob term statistics), insert-job (enqueues any SMW job type, including smw.fulltextSearchTableRebuild, smw.propertyStatisticsRebuild and smw.entityIdDisposer, for an arbitrary title), and update, check-query and run-joblist (synchronous job execution and #ask queries within the request). The trigger and the absence of any authorization check are documented in source; the practical limits are impact-related rather than access-related, since the value of disclosed statistics and the performance cost scale with store size and job cost.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:L/VI:L/VA:L/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Remote unauthenticated HTTP with no interaction (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N); partial confidentiality (internal stats), integrity (semantic data alteration) and availability (performance degradation), no scope change.
Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).
CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck
Lifecycle Timeline
1DescriptionCVE.org
Semantic MediaWiki from 3.0.0 before 7.3.0 contains a missing authorization vulnerability in the api.php smwtask module that allows unauthenticated attackers to run admin-only maintenance tasks. Attackers can use the public anonymous CSRF token to read internal store statistics, enqueue jobs like smw.entityIdDisposer, and execute queued jobs, degrading performance and altering semantic data.
Threat Intelligence Overview
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
Cross-Site Request Forgery exploits the automatic credential inclusion behavior of web browsers.
Authentication bypass attacks exploit flaws in the verification mechanisms that control access to systems and applications.
MediaWiki 1.22.x before 1.22.2, 1.21.x before 1.21.5, and 1.19.x before 1.19.11, when DjVu or PDF file upload support is
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The SemanticDrilldown extension for MediaWiki through 1.37.2 (before e688bdba6434591b5dff689a45e4d53459954773) allows SQ
An issue was discovered in MediaWiki through 1.37.1. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely
An issue was discovered in MediaWiki through 1.37.1. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this vulnerability is remotely
An issue was discovered in the CentralAuth extension in MediaWiki through 1.36. Rated critical severity (CVSS 9.8), this
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api.php in MediaWiki before 1.27.4, 1.28.x before 1.28.3, and 1.29.x before 1.29.2 has a Reflected File Download vulnera
Improper Neutralization of Special Elements used in an SQL Command ('SQL Injection') vulnerability in The Wikimedia Foun
An issue was discovered in the FileImporter extension in MediaWiki through 1.36. Rated high severity (CVSS 8.8), this vu
EUVD-2026-110718
GHSA-4cv4-rp7r-qh6c
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
Vulnrichment
Exploit-DB