VulnerabilityPublished 7 Jul 2025Updated 8 Jul 2025

CVE-2025-53498: Wikimedia Foundation Mediawiki – AbuseFilter Extension · Insufficient Logging

Affects Wikimedia Foundation Mediawiki – AbuseFilter ExtensionSource CVE Database V5

Not known to be exploited · CVSS 5.3 Medium : upgrade to 1.44.0 when convenient.

Data as of 26 Oct 2026, 17:16 UTC

CVSS 3.1 base score

5.3Medium

How severe the flaw is on the 0–10 CVSS scale.

EPSS: 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days – higher than 20% of CVEsExploit Prediction Scoring System: the likelihood attackers will use this flaw soon.
Patch: Available – fixed in 1.44.0

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

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

Bold values are the worst case: easiest to exploit or largest impact.

Attack Vector: Network: The vulnerable component is bound to the network stack and the set of possible attackers extends beyond the other options listed, up to and including the entire Internet. Such a vulnerability is often termed 'remotely exploitable' and can be thought of as an attack being exploitable at the protocol level one or more network hops away (e.g., across one or more routers).
Attack Complexity: Low: Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success against the vulnerable component.
Privileges Required: None: The attacker is unauthorized prior to attack, and therefore does not require any access to settings or files to carry out an attack.
User Interaction: None: The vulnerable system can be exploited without any interaction from any user.
Scope: Unchanged: An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.
Confidentiality: Low: There is some loss of confidentiality. Access to some restricted information is obtained, but the attacker does not have control over what information is obtained, or the amount or kind of loss is limited. The information disclosure does not cause a direct, serious loss to the impacted component.
Integrity: None: There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.
Availability: None: There is no impact to availability within the impacted component.

Definitions: FIRST CVSS v3.1 specification.

Exploitation evidence

Disclosed: evidence found.
CVE published 7 Jul 2025
Detectable: no evidence on record.
No public nuclei template indexed
Weaponised: no evidence on record.
No public exploit code indexed in Metasploit or Exploit-DB
Exploited in the wildExploited: no evidence on record.
Not in CISA KEV and no source reports exploitation
Observed by OffSeq MirageSeen by Mirage: no evidence on record.
No attack traffic recorded by OffSeq Mirage sensors

A missing step is not evidence of safety. Sources: cve.org (opens in a new tab), the Metasploit, Exploit-DB and nuclei-templates index as of 26 Oct 2026.

Disclosed: The CVE record is public on cve.org. Its publication is t = 0.
Detectable: A public nuclei template can find exposed instances, for defenders and attackers alike.
Weaponised: Public exploit code exists in Metasploit or Exploit-DB, or CISA SSVC or the CVSS exploit maturity reports a public proof of concept.
Exploited in the wild: CISA KEV lists it, CISA SSVC rates exploitation active, or a source reports attacks.
Observed by OffSeq Mirage: OffSeq Mirage honeypot sensors recorded attack traffic for this CVE, or found exposed hosts without attack traffic.

Moments are spaced evenly, not to scale; a dashed line marks a gap of six months or more. Deltas count from t = 0. Sources that give only a date (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, or a time of exactly 00:00Z) read “same day” rather than hours. Metasploit modules carry the flaw’s disclosure date, not their release date, and nuclei templates carry no date, so both appear above but not on the timeline.

What to do

Upgrade wikimedia/mediawiki/extensions/AbuseFilter to 1.44.0.

Affected software

Product	Affected	Fixed in
GitHubwikimedia/mediawiki/extensions/AbuseFilter`pkg:github/wikimedia/mediawiki/extensions/AbuseFilter`Other threats	Affected >=1.43.0 <1.44.0	Fixed in 1.44.0

Check your own hosts for these packages with threat-finder (opens in a new tab), our free open-source scanner.

AI-suggested

European organizations should prioritize upgrading the AbuseFilter extension to version 1.43.2 or later once available, as this will likely include fixes addressing the insufficient logging issue. If you cannot patch yet, organizations should implement enhanced external logging and monitoring around Mediawiki activities, such as integrating Mediawiki logs with centralized Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems to detect anomalous behavior. Restricting network access to Mediawiki instances to trusted users and IP ranges can reduce exposure. Additionally, organizations should conduct regular audits of AbuseFilter configurations to ensure filters are properly defined and review any suspicious edits manually. Implementing strict access controls and multi-factor authentication for Mediawiki administrators can further reduce the risk of exploitation. Finally, organizations should prepare incident response plans that consider the possibility of undetected data leakage due to insufficient logging.

Description

Insufficient Logging vulnerability in Wikimedia Foundation Mediawiki - AbuseFilter Extension allows Data Leakage Attacks.This issue affects Mediawiki - AbuseFilter Extension: from 1.43.X before 1.43.2.

Impact

For European organizations using Mediawiki with the AbuseFilter extension, this vulnerability poses a risk of unauthorized data exposure. Since Mediawiki is widely used for collaborative documentation, knowledge bases, and internal wikis, sensitive organizational information could be at risk if attackers exploit this logging deficiency to bypass detection. The lack of sufficient logging hinders incident response and forensic investigations, increasing the risk of prolonged undetected attacks. European institutions, especially those in government, education, and research sectors that rely on Mediawiki for information sharing, may face confidentiality breaches that could lead to reputational damage, regulatory non-compliance (e.g., GDPR violations), and potential intellectual property theft. However, the medium severity and limited confidentiality impact suggest that the threat is moderate and primarily concerns information exposure rather than system compromise or service disruption.

CWE-778Insufficient Logging (opens in a new tab)
Base weaknessLikelihood of exploit: MediumOWASP Top 10 A09:2025: Security Logging & Alerting Failures (opens in a new tab)
When a security-critical event occurs, the product either does not record the event or omits important details about the event when logging it.
Architecture and Design
Use a centralized logging mechanism that supports multiple levels of detail.
Implementation
Ensure that all security-related successes and failures can be logged. When storing data in the cloud (e.g., AWS S3 buckets, Azure blobs, Google Cloud Storage, etc.), use the provider's controls to enable and capture detailed logging information.
Operation
Be sure to set the level of logging appropriately in a production environment. Sufficient data should be logged to enable system administrators to detect attacks, diagnose errors, and recover from attacks.
OWASP Cheat Sheets
Application Logging Vocabulary (opens in a new tab)
Logging (opens in a new tab)
OWASP ASVS 4.0.3
V7.1.3 (opens in a new tab)
V7.2.1 (opens in a new tab)
V7.1.4 (opens in a new tab)
From MITRE CWE, MITRE CAPEC and OWASP (Top 10, OpenCRE).

References

Community reviews

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Exploitation evidence

What to do

Affected software

Description

AI analysisMachine-generated, updated 14 Jul 2025, 21:11 UTC

WeaknessesCWE-778

Technical details

References

Community reviews

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