Semantic MediaWiki affected by reflected XSS in `Special:Ask` via a forged cursor pagination token

MITRE NVD CVE.ORG JSON API

Summary

CVECVE-2026-77616
StatePUBLISHED
AssignerGitHub_M
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2026-09-18 17:17:01 UTC
Updated2026-09-24 21:22:19 UTC
DescriptionSemantic MediaWiki is a free, open-source extension to MediaWiki that lets users store and query data within the wiki's pages. In versions 7.0.0 through 7.1.0, `Special:Ask` accepts a `cursor` query parameter for keyset pagination (added in 7.0.0). The token is decoded by `CursorEncoder`, which is an **unsigned** base64url-encoded JSON blob, so its contents are fully attacker-controlled. When the cursor's sort anchor does not match the request's `sort=` / `order=`, `QueryCreator::applyCursorIfRequested()` builds an error message by interpolating the attacker-controlled `sort_prop` / `sort_order` values into a raw string via `Query::addErrors()`. Unlike SMW's message-key errors, this raw string bypasses the message layer's sanitization (`ProcessingErrorMsgHandler::normalizeAndDecodeMessages()` passes a non-key, non-encoded string through unchanged). `ErrorWidget::queryError()` then assembles the errors and passes them to `Html::errorBox()`, whose first argument is emitted as raw HTML. The result is a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability: a crafted `cursor` token containing markup in `sort_prop` (or `sort_order`) executes script in the victim's browser on the wiki origin. No authentication or special permission is required. The payload is delivered via a crafted link. Version 7.2.0 contains a fix.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.1 6.1 MEDIUM from [email protected]

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

EPSS: 0.003300000 probability, percentile 0.234010000 (date 2026-09-25)

Problem Types: CWE-79 | CWE-79 CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.1[email protected]Secondary6.1MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
3.1CNADECLARED6.1MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

CVSS v3.1 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
None
User Interaction
Required
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
Low
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

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

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA SemanticMediaWiki SemanticMediaWiki affected >= 7.0.0, < 7.2.0 Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
github.com/SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki/security/advisories/GHSA-... [email protected] github.com
github.com/SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki/releases/tag/7.2.0 [email protected] github.com
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