{"id":"CVE-2026-77616","aliases":["GHSA-cx86-7xwp-w9wf"],"url":"https://o3.security/vulnerability/CVE-2026-77616","summary":"Semantic MediaWiki affected by reflected XSS in `Special:Ask` via a forged cursor pagination token","details":"## Reflected XSS via a forged cursor pagination token\n\n#### Failure mode\n\n`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()`.\n\nUnlike SMW's message-key errors, this raw string bypasses the message layer's sanitisation (`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.\n\nNo authentication or special permission is required. The payload is delivered via a crafted link, e.g. `Special:Ask?q=...&p[cursor]=<forged token>` where the token decodes to `{\"v\":1,\"sort_prop\":\"<script>...</script>\"}`. Confirmed executing in a browser; the responses carry no Content-Security-Policy, so inline script is not blocked.\n\n#### Remediation\n\n- Output-encode the attacker-controlled `sort_prop` / `sort_order` values before they are interpolated into the error text in `QueryCreator`, so no raw user input enters the error stream.\n- Defense in depth: the `format=debug` output path that reflected the same error text was hardened separately in GHSA-q5fm-9mx6-44f4.\n\n#### Maintenance note\n\nQuery error strings are rendered as raw HTML by `ErrorWidget::queryError()` via `Html::errorBox()`. Any error added through `Query::addErrors()` that embeds user-controlled text must be output-encoded (or use a message key); pagination and validation error text is attacker-influenced and must not be treated as trusted.","published":"2026-09-18T16:58:47.062Z","modified":"2026-10-28T02:30:23.411774759Z","cvss":{"score":6.1,"severity":"MEDIUM","vector":"CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N"},"epss":null,"cisaKev":null,"exploitsKnown":null,"affectedPackages":[{"ecosystem":"Packagist","name":"mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki","fixedVersion":"7.2.0"}],"fix":null,"references":[{"type":"WEB","url":"https://github.com/SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki/releases/tag/7.2.0"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/CVEProject/cvelistV5/tree/main/cves/2026/77xxx/CVE-2026-77616.json"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://github.com/SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki/security/advisories/GHSA-cx86-7xwp-w9wf"},{"type":"ADVISORY","url":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2026-77616"},{"type":"PACKAGE","url":"https://github.com/SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki"}],"provenance":{"sources":["OSV.dev","FIRST.org (EPSS)"],"lastVerified":"2026-10-28T02:30:23.411774759Z"}}