CVE-2025-6597

N/A Unknown
Authentication Bypass

📋 TL;DR

This vulnerability in MediaWiki's AuthManager.php allows attackers to bypass authentication mechanisms under specific conditions. It affects all MediaWiki installations running vulnerable versions, potentially compromising user accounts and administrative access.

💻 Affected Systems

Products:
  • Wikimedia Foundation MediaWiki
Versions: MediaWiki versions before 1.39.13, 1.42.7, 1.43.2, and 1.44.0
Operating Systems: All operating systems running MediaWiki
Default Config Vulnerable: ⚠️ Yes
Notes: All MediaWiki installations with the vulnerable AuthManager.php file are affected regardless of configuration.

⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact

🔴

Worst Case

Complete authentication bypass leading to unauthorized administrative access, account takeover, and potential data manipulation or exfiltration.

🟠

Likely Case

Limited authentication bypass allowing unauthorized access to restricted content or functionality.

🟢

If Mitigated

Minimal impact with proper access controls, monitoring, and network segmentation in place.

🌐 Internet-Facing: HIGH
🏢 Internal Only: MEDIUM

🎯 Exploit Status

Public PoC: ✅ No
Weaponized: UNKNOWN
Unauthenticated Exploit: ✅ No
Complexity: MEDIUM

Exploitation requires specific conditions and understanding of MediaWiki's authentication flow.

🛠️ Fix & Mitigation

✅ Official Fix

Patch Version: 1.39.13, 1.42.7, 1.43.2, or 1.44.0

Vendor Advisory: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T389009

Restart Required: No

Instructions:

1. Backup your MediaWiki installation and database. 2. Download the patched version from mediawiki.org. 3. Replace the includes/auth/AuthManager.php file with the patched version. 4. Verify the fix by testing authentication functionality.

🔧 Temporary Workarounds

Temporary file replacement

linux

Manually replace the vulnerable AuthManager.php with a patched version without full upgrade

wget -O /path/to/mediawiki/includes/auth/AuthManager.php https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wikimedia/mediawiki/[version]/includes/auth/AuthManager.php

🧯 If You Can't Patch

  • Implement strict network access controls to limit MediaWiki access to trusted IPs only
  • Enable detailed authentication logging and monitor for suspicious authentication attempts

🔍 How to Verify

Check if Vulnerable:

Check the version of MediaWiki and compare against affected versions. Examine the includes/auth/AuthManager.php file modification date.

Check Version:

grep 'wgVersion' /path/to/mediawiki/includes/DefaultSettings.php

Verify Fix Applied:

Verify MediaWiki version is 1.39.13, 1.42.7, 1.43.2, or 1.44.0. Test authentication functionality works correctly.

📡 Detection & Monitoring

Log Indicators:

  • Unusual authentication patterns
  • Failed login attempts followed by successful access from same IP
  • Authentication requests with malformed parameters

Network Indicators:

  • Unusual authentication traffic patterns
  • Requests to AuthManager.php with unexpected parameters

SIEM Query:

source="mediawiki.log" AND ("AuthManager" OR "authentication") AND (status="success" OR status="failed") | stats count by src_ip, user

📊 Metadata

CVE ID: CVE-2025-6597
CVSS v3 Score: N/A (Unknown)
Published: February 2, 2026
Last Updated: February 4, 2026

🤖 AI-assisted analysis, reviewed for accuracy

🔗 References

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