Overview
This post aims to shed light on a severe cybersecurity vulnerability, CVE-2025-53483, that poses a significant risk to certain versions of the Mediawiki SecurePoll extension. This critical flaw arises from a lack of validation of request methods and CSRF tokens, specifically in ArchivePage.php, UnarchivePage.php, and VoterEligibilityPage#executeClear().
The severity of this issue lies in its potential to allow attackers to initiate sensitive actions if an administrator inadvertently visits a malicious website. This vulnerability not only affects the integrity of the system but also the confidentiality and availability of the data within, making it a critical threat that needs immediate attention.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-53483
Severity: Critical (CVSS: 8.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise and data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Mediawiki SecurePoll extension | 1.39.X before 1.39.13
Mediawiki SecurePoll extension | 1.42.X before 1.42.7
Mediawiki SecurePoll extension | 1.43.X before 1.43.2
How the Exploit Works
The exploit takes advantage of the lack of CSRF tokens and request method validation in certain PHP files in the Mediawiki SecurePoll extension. By crafting a malicious website and inducing an admin to visit it, an attacker can trigger sensitive actions on the victim’s system. The absence of proper CSRF protection makes the system vulnerable as it fails to verify if the requests made are genuinely from the authorized user, thus enabling a successful CSRF attack.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how an attacker might exploit this vulnerability. Note that this is a simplified representation of a potential attack and real-world exploits may be far more complex and concealed.
GET /vulnerable/SecurePoll/ArchivePage.php HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Referer: http://malicious.example.com
{ "sensitive_action": "trigger" }In this example, the attacker tricks the admin into making a request to the vulnerable page on the target site (target.example.com) from a malicious site (malicious.example.com), thereby performing a sensitive action (“trigger”) without the admin’s knowledge or consent.