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Incorrect Permission AssignmentWeakness · CWE-732

CVE-2025-12004

CRITICAL · 10.0 CVSS v4.0 Published 2025-10-21
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource vulnerability in The Wikimedia Foundation Mediawiki - Lockdown Extension allows Privilege Abuse. Fixed in Mediawiki Core Action APIThis issue affects Mediawiki - Lockdown Extension: from master before 1.42.

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 · moderate confidence

The MediaWiki Lockdown extension has an incorrect permission assignment vulnerability that allows privilege abuse. The extension, which controls access to restricted content based on user groups, improperly assigns permissions to a critical resource, enabling authenticated users to access content they should not have permission to view or modify.

MitigationUpgrade MediaWiki to version 1.42 or later which includes the fix in MediaWiki Core Action API. Alternatively, ensure the Lockdown extension is updated to a version that includes the permission fix.

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

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
Authentication
X
User interaction
None
Scope
X

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:H/SI:H/SA:H/E:X/CR:X/IR:X/AR:X/MAV:X/MAC:X/MAT:X/MPR:X/MUI:X/MVC:X/MVI:X/MVA:X/MSC:X/MSI:X/MSA:X/S:X/AU:X/R:X/V:X/RE:X/U:X

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. Identify MediaWiki core version
    Locate the file 'includes/Defines.php' or run 'php maintenance/revision.php' to find the MEDIAWIKI_VERSION constant, or check the Special:Version page in the wiki.
    Affected if The installed MediaWiki version is earlier than 1.42.
  2. Identify Lockdown extension version
    Check the 'extensions/Lockdown/extension.json' file or query the Special:Version page for the Lockdown extension version number.
    Affected if The Lockdown extension version does not include the permission fix (earlier than the version bundled with MediaWiki 1.42).
  3. Verify Lockdown extension is enabled
    Check the 'LocalSettings.php' file for the line 'wfLoadExtension( "Lockdown" )' or confirm the extension appears as active on Special:Version.
    Affected if The Lockdown extension is loaded and active in the wiki configuration.
  4. Inspect Lockdown permission configuration
    Review the '$wgLockdown' array in 'LocalSettings.php' to identify which namespaces or special pages have restricted access controls defined.
    Affected if The Lockdown extension has namespaces or special pages configured with group-based access controls.
  5. Test effective permissions for restricted content
    Create a test user account belonging to a non-privileged group, then attempt to access content in restricted namespaces or pages that should be blocked by Lockdown rules.
    Affected if The test user can view or modify content in namespaces/pages that should be restricted based on the Lockdown configuration.

A user is affected if their MediaWiki core version is earlier than 1.42 (or Lockdown extension lacks the fix) AND the Lockdown extension is enabled with restrictive permissions configured, yet unauthorized users can access restricted content.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade MediaWiki to version 1.42 or later which includes the fix in MediaWiki Core Action API. Alternatively, ensure the Lockdown extension is updated to a version that includes the permission fix.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

MediaWiki Lockdown Extension 1.42 or later

  1. 1. Backup your current MediaWiki installation and database before updating.
  2. 2. Identify your current MediaWiki Lockdown Extension version by checking the extension's version file or composer.json.
  3. 3. Update the MediaWiki Lockdown Extension to version 1.42 or later. In the MediaWiki extensions directory, run: composer update wikimedia/lockdown or download the 1.42 release from the MediaWiki extensions repository.
  4. 4. Clear any caches (e.g., objectcache, message cache) after the update.
  5. 5. Verify the fix by testing that the privilege restrictions enforced by the Lockdown extension are working correctly, particularly for the API actions mentioned in the fix.

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

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2025-12004 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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