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MediawikiCMS

CVE-2021-46148

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-01-10
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.35.5 / 1.36.3 or later.
See remediation →
71/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
An issue was discovered in MediaWiki before 1.35.5, 1.36.x before 1.36.3, and 1.37.x before 1.37.1. Some unprivileged users can view confidential information (e.g., IP addresses and User-Agent headers for election traffic) on a testwiki SecurePoll instance.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

An information disclosure vulnerability in MediaWiki's SecurePoll extension allows unprivileged users to view sensitive election traffic data including IP addresses and User-Agent headers. The vulnerability stems from insufficient access controls in the SecurePoll functionality.

MitigationUpgrade MediaWiki to version 1.35.5, 1.36.3, 1.37.1 or later to patch the insecure access controls in SecurePoll.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
MediawikiCMS
Affected:< 1.35.5>= 1.36.0, < 1.36.3>= 1.37.0, < 1.37.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check MediaWiki version
    View the file includes/Defines.php or access Special:Version on your wiki to identify the installed MediaWiki version number
    Affected if The installed version falls within < 1.35.5, >= 1.36.0 but < 1.36.3, or >= 1.37.0 but < 1.37.1
  2. Verify SecurePoll extension is installed
    Check your LocalSettings.php for the line 'wfLoadExtension( 'SecurePoll' );' or view Special:Version to see if SecurePoll appears in the list of installed extensions
    Affected if SecurePoll extension is enabled on the wiki
  3. Confirm election functionality is in use
    Look for any active or historical elections created through SecurePoll by accessing Special:SecurePoll or checking the database table 'securepoll_elections' if you have database access
    Affected if Any SecurePoll elections exist on the wiki
  4. Test access control on election data
    Attempt to access election traffic data (vote records, IP addresses, User-Agent headers) as a non-privileged user through the SecurePoll interface or API endpoints
    Affected if Unprivileged users can view sensitive election traffic data including IPs or User-Agent information

You are affected if your MediaWiki version is within the vulnerable ranges AND SecurePoll extension is enabled with active elections accessible to unprivileged users.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 1.35.5 / 1.36.3 / 1.37.1 or later
Fixed in 1.35.51.36.31.37.1
Interim mitigation

Upgrade MediaWiki to version 1.35.5, 1.36.3, 1.37.1 or later to patch the insecure access controls in SecurePoll.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to MediaWiki 1.35.5+, 1.36.3+, or 1.37.1+ (recommended: latest stable 1.35 LTS or latest release)

  1. Determine your current MediaWiki version by checking the includes/Defines.php file or wiki's Special:Version page
  2. For MediaWiki 1.34.x or earlier: upgrade to version 1.35.5 or later (preferably latest 1.35 LTS)
  3. For MediaWiki 1.36.x: upgrade to version 1.36.3 or later
  4. For MediaWiki 1.37.x: upgrade to version 1.37.1 or later
  5. After upgrade, verify that unprivileged users can no longer access SecurePoll election data including IP addresses and User-Agent headers
  6. Review Special:SecurePoll logs to confirm the fix is functioning correctly

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Mediawiki Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2021-46148 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data