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MediawikiCMS

CVE-2023-45371

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-10-09
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 1.35.12 / 1.39.5 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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 the Wikibase extension for MediaWiki before 1.35.12, 1.36.x through 1.39.x before 1.39.5, and 1.40.x before 1.40.1. There is no rate limit for merging items.

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

The Wikibase extension for MediaWiki lacks rate limiting on the item merge functionality. This allows an attacker to repeatedly trigger merge operations without restriction, potentially leading to resource exhaustion or abuse of the merge feature.

MitigationUpgrade MediaWiki Wikibase extension to version 1.35.12, 1.39.5, or 1.40.1 or later which implements rate limiting for item merge operations.

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:< 1.35.12>= 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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

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
    Look up $wgVersion in your LocalSettings.php file or visit Special:Version on your wiki
    Affected if The version is < 1.35.12, or >= 1.36.0 and < 1.39.5, or exactly 1.40.0
  2. Confirm Wikibase extension is installed
    Check LocalSettings.php for lines starting with 'enableWikibaseRepo' or 'enableWikibaseClient', or look for the Wikibase entry on Special:Version
    Affected if Wikibase is installed and enabled
  3. Verify item merge feature is accessible
    Check if Special:MergeItems is accessible on your wiki (the URL path is /wiki/Special:MergeItems)
    Affected if The merge item interface is accessible to users
  4. Check for rate limiting configuration on merge
    Search LocalSettings.php for rate limiting settings related to merge operations (look for parameters containing 'merge' or 'rate' in any $wgRateLimit* configuration)
    Affected if No rate limiting configuration exists for item merge operations

Your wiki is affected if it runs a MediaWiki version in the affected ranges, has Wikibase enabled, and the item merge feature lacks rate limiting controls.

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 1.35.12 / 1.39.5 or later
Fixed in 1.35.121.39.5
Interim mitigation

Upgrade MediaWiki Wikibase extension to version 1.35.12, 1.39.5, or 1.40.1 or later which implements rate limiting for item merge operations.

Recommended fix High confidence

1.40.1 (or minimum 1.35.12 for 1.35.x branch, 1.39.5 for 1.36-1.39.x branch)

  1. 1. Identify current MediaWiki and Wikibase extension versions using maintenance scripts or admin interface
  2. 2. If running MediaWiki 1.35.x: upgrade to version 1.35.12 or later (recommended: 1.39 LTS or 1.40.x)
  3. 3. If running MediaWiki 1.36.x through 1.39.x: upgrade to version 1.39.5 or later (recommended: 1.40.x)
  4. 4. If running MediaWiki 1.40.0: upgrade to version 1.40.1
  5. 5. Ensure the Wikibase extension is updated to the corresponding compatible version (Wikibase releases are synchronized with MediaWiki releases)
  6. 6. Run database update scripts after upgrade: php maintenance/update.php
  7. 7. Verify the rate limiting is now in place by attempting a merge operation and confirming it is throttled

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

Fix this in Mediawiki Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,570
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,512.

Scan for this in your stack

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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-2023-45371 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