dbcve.org
Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2023-45364

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.39.5 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 includes/page/Article.php in MediaWiki 1.36.x through 1.39.x before 1.39.5 and 1.40.x before 1.40.1. Deleted revision existence is leaked due to incorrect permissions being checked. This reveals that a given revision ID belonged to the given page title, and its timestamp, both of which are not supposed to be public information.

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

In MediaWiki versions 1.36.x through 1.39.x before 1.39.5 and 1.40.x before 1.40.1, incorrect permission checks in includes/page/Article.php allow unauthorized users to determine if a specific revision ID belonged to a given page title and retrieve its timestamp. This leaks information about deleted revisions that should remain confidential.

MitigationUpgrade MediaWiki to version 1.39.5, 1.40.1, or later to patch the incorrect permission checking logic in Article.php that leaks deleted revision metadata.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 11.0= 12.0
MediawikiCMS
Affected:>= 1.36.0, < 1.39.5= 1.40.0

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/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
    Locate the version file in your MediaWiki installation (typically at includes/Defines.php or the Special:Version page in the web interface). Identify the exact version number installed.
    Affected if The installed version is 1.36.0 through 1.39.4, or exactly 1.40.0.
  2. Locate the vulnerable Article.php file
    Verify the presence of the file includes/page/Article.php in your MediaWiki installation directory.
    Affected if The file includes/page/Article.php exists in the MediaWiki installation.
  3. Check for anonymous or low-privilege user access
    Determine if anonymous users or users with limited permissions can access page revision history or use the 'history' action on pages.
    Affected if Anonymous or unauthorized users can access revision information through the page history interface.
  4. Verify deleted revision visibility settings
    Review MediaWiki configuration in LocalSettings.php for any custom permission extensions that may restrict access to deleted revision metadata.
    Affected if No strict access controls are in place to prevent unauthorized users from querying revision IDs and timestamps.

Your MediaWiki installation is affected if it runs version 1.36.0 through 1.39.4 or version 1.40.0, and the vulnerable Article.php permission check allows unauthorized access to deleted revision metadata.

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 1.39.5 or later
Fixed in 1.39.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade MediaWiki to version 1.39.5, 1.40.1, or later to patch the incorrect permission checking logic in Article.php that leaks deleted revision metadata.

Recommended fix High confidence

MediaWiki 1.39.5 or 1.40.1 (or latest stable 1.39.x/1.40.x release)

  1. 1. Check current MediaWiki version by examining includes/Defines.php or the Special:Version page
  2. 2. Create a complete backup of the MediaWiki database and all files
  3. 3. Upgrade MediaWiki to version 1.39.5 or 1.40.1 (or the latest 1.39.x/1.40.x release)
  4. 4. Run the maintenance/update.php script to apply database schema changes
  5. 5. Clear all caches (including parser cache and job queue)
  6. 6. Verify the installation is working correctly
Caveat Minor version upgrades typically have minimal breaking changes, but review the release notes for any configuration or extension changes

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

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,800.

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-2023-45364 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