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Fencer Intel
medium 6.1

CVE-2026-77616 json

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

published last mo. modified last mo. also EUVD-2026-83189 , GHSA-cx86-7xwp-w9wf

cvss
6.1
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 26%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Semantic 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.

Patch / fix

  • packagist mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki 7.2.0
  • semantic-mediawiki semantic_mediawiki 7.2.0

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CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
last mo.

Exploit prediction

0.33% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 26% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-11).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 6.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
GitHub 3.1 6.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
packagist mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki
>=7.0.0, <7.2.0
7.2.0

Affected products

  • SemanticMediaWiki SemanticMediaWiki

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-79 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.

CPEs and fixed versions use Anchore's correction of NVD's data: Added CPE configurations because not yet analyzed by NVD.