Skip to main content

Improper Authentication

CVE-2013-4304

High
7.5/10

Summary

The CentralAuth extension for MediaWiki 1.19.x before 1.19.8, 1.20.x before 1.20.7, and 1.21.x before 1.21.2 caches a valid CentralAuthUser object in the centralauth_User cookie even when a user has not successfully logged in, which allows remote attackers to bypass authentication without a password.

  • LOW
  • NETWORK
  • NONE
  • PARTIAL
  • PARTIAL
  • PARTIAL

CWE-287 - Improper Authentication

Improper (or broken) authentication attacks are widespread, and have accounted for many of the worst data breaches in recent years. Improper authentication attacks are a class of vulnerabilities where an attacker impersonates a legitimate user by exploiting weaknesses in either session management or credential management to gain access to the user’s account. This can result in disclosure of sensitive information, and can lead to system compromise, theft, identity theft, and fraud.

References

Advisory Timeline

  • Published