Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) in MediaWiki (CVE-2015-8623)
Summary
Vulnerability in MediaWiki (CVE-2015-8623). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Original description
The description as published by the source.
The User::matchEditToken function in includes/User.php in MediaWiki before 1.23.12 and 1.24.x before 1.24.5 does not perform token comparison in constant time before returning, which allows remote attackers to guess the edit token and bypass CSRF protection via a timing attack, a different vulnerability than CVE-2015-8624.
Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database NVD
Auto-generated summary
Assembled by SecPulse from the source data (CVSS, CWE, affected versions) using templates — no AI involved. Check the original description and references below for exact details.
A vulnerability tracked as CVE-2015-8623 has been found in MediaWiki.
Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover. CVSS score: 8.8/10.
What to do: apply the vendor's official patched release.
If unsure, ask your IT team or search "MediaWiki CVE-2015-8623" on the vendor's site.
CVE-2015-8623 (MediaWiki) — CWE-352 / CVSS v3 8.8
Attack vector: remote (network-reachable) / unauthenticated
Plan: 1) Audit SBOM/dependencies, 2) Stage→prod upgrade, 3) Add WAF/proxy monitoring on affected endpoints, 4) Hunt IOCs in logs.
Refs: see the GHSA / vendor advisory / patched release linked on this page.
CSRF (CWE-352) exists in MediaWiki.
Check the vendor advisory for the affected versions of MediaWiki.
Severity: High (CVSS 8.8/10). Successful exploitation can lead to full system takeover.
Update to the patched release per vendor advisory.
Until the patch is applied: disable the affected feature, apply WAF rules, or restrict access via network ACLs.
Search webserver/proxy logs for unusual request patterns matching this CVE's known IOCs. Run grep -r 'MediaWiki' . against your dependency files (package-lock.json, requirements.txt, go.sum) to find affected services.
Response actions
Concrete steps and command examples for SOC/SRE teams to execute in order
-
1Identify exposure identify
grep -r 'MediaWiki' . | grep -v node_modulesリポジトリと本番環境の依存ファイル (package-lock.json / requirements.txt / go.sum / Gemfile.lock 等) で
MediaWikiを grep し、稼働しているサービス・バージョンを把握する。 -
2Post-deployment verification verify
Confirm patched version is live in productionパッチ適用後、ステージングで PoC または同等の悪用パターンを再現して脆弱性が閉じたことを確認。本番ではアクセスログ・WAF でアラート再発が無いか継続監視。
Fix status by distribution
Fixed packages published by each distribution for this CVE
- Debian DEBIAN-CVE-2015-8623 mediawiki Fixed in: 1:1.25.5-1
References
- advisory gerrit.wikimedia.org
- patch openwall.com
- patch openwall.com
- patch lists.wikimedia.org
- patch phabricator.wikimedia.org