Overview
This blog post covers the critical vulnerability CVE-2025-53484, which affects the SecurePoll extension of the widely used Mediawiki software. This vulnerability permits malicious actors to inject JavaScript into user-controlled inputs, potentially compromising user sessions. This is especially alarming as it affects a range of SecurePoll versions and can lead to system compromise or data leakage, with a high CVSS Severity Score of 9.8.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-53484
Severity: Critical (CVSS: 9.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: Required
Impact: System Compromise, 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
This exploit works by taking advantage of the improperly escaped user inputs in ‘VotePage.php’ (poll option input) and ‘ResultPage::getPagesTab() and getErrorsTab()’ (user-controllable page names). Attackers can manipulate these vulnerabilities to inject JavaScript into the user-controlled inputs and then execute that script under certain conditions. A successful exploit could potentially compromise user sessions, leading to system compromise or data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
This is a conceptual example of how the exploit might be used. The malicious actor could send a HTTP POST request with the malicious JavaScript payload:
POST /VotePage.php HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerable-wiki.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
poll_option=<script>malicious_code_here</script>
POST /getPagesTab() HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerable-wiki.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
page_name=<script>malicious_code_here</script>In the above example, `` is where the attacker would insert their malicious JavaScript code to exploit the vulnerability. The server then executes the injected script, leading to potential compromise of user sessions and data leakage.
Recommended Mitigation
The recommended mitigation for this vulnerability is to immediately apply the vendor-supplied patch. If the patch cannot be applied immediately, using a WAF (Web Application Firewall) or IDS (Intrusion Detection System) can provide temporary mitigation by detecting and blocking malicious JavaScript payloads.