CVE-2026-77616 — SemanticMediaWiki
MEDIUMCVE-2026-77616 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability. No vendor fix is recorded yet; mitigation options are listed below.
Semantic MediaWiki is a free, open-source extension to MediaWiki that lets users store and query data within the wiki's pages. In versions 7.0.0 through 7.1.0, `Special:Ask` accepts…
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-77616.
Description
Semantic MediaWiki is a free, open-source extension to MediaWiki that lets users store and query data within the wiki's pages. In versions 7.0.0 through 7.1.0, Special:Ask accepts a cursor query parameter for keyset pagination (added in 7.0.0). The token is decoded by CursorEncoder, which is an unsigned base64url-encoded JSON blob, so its contents are fully attacker-controlled. When the cursor's sort anchor does not match the request's sort= / order=, QueryCreator::applyCursorIfRequested() builds an error message by interpolating the attacker-controlled sort_prop / sort_order values into a raw string via Query::addErrors(). Unlike SMW's message-key errors, this raw string bypasses the message layer's sanitization (ProcessingErrorMsgHandler::normalizeAndDecodeMessages() passes a non-key, non-encoded string through unchanged). ErrorWidget::queryError() then assembles the errors and passes them to Html::errorBox(), whose first argument is emitted as raw HTML. The result is a reflected cross-site scripting vulnerability: a crafted cursor token containing markup in sort_prop (or sort_order) executes script in the victim's browser on the wiki origin. No authentication or special permission is required. The payload is delivered via a crafted link. Version 7.2.0 contains a fix.
Detection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for the affected component, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Remediation status
No patched version of the affected component has shipped for CVE-2026-77616 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
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-2026-77616 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2026-77616. 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-2026-77616 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2026-77616 across dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.