CVE-2019-12473 — mediawiki/core
HIGHCVE-2019-12473 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) vulnerability in mediawiki/core. A fix is available for mediawiki/core — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Wikimedia Potential DOS due to slow WatchedItemStore::countVisitingWatchersMultiple
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2019-12473 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,166 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
mediawiki/core🐘mediawiki/core🐘mediawiki/core🐘mediawiki/coreReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
Wikimedia MediaWiki 1.27.0 through 1.32.1 might allow DoS. Passing invalid titles to the API could cause a DoS by querying the entire watchlist table. Fixed in 1.32.2, 1.31.2, 1.30.2 and 1.27.6.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | mediawiki/core | ≥ 1.27.0&&< 1.27.6 | 1.27.6composer require mediawiki/core:^1.27.6 |
| 🐘Packagist | mediawiki/core | ≥ 1.30.0&&< 1.30.2 | 1.30.2composer require mediawiki/core:^1.30.2 |
| 🐘Packagist | mediawiki/core | ≥ 1.31.0&&< 1.31.2 | 1.31.2composer require mediawiki/core:^1.31.2 |
| 🐘Packagist | mediawiki/core | ≥ 1.32.0&&< 1.32.2 | 1.32.2composer require mediawiki/core:^1.32.2 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for mediawiki/core, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update mediawiki/core to 1.27.6 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2019-12473 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2019-12473 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2019-12473. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2019-12473 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2019-12473 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.