Semantic MediaWiki affected by reflected XSS in `Special:Ask` via a forged cursor pagination token (CVE-2026-77616) | HOL Guard CVE

Medium · CVSS 6.1CVE-2026-77616GHSA-CX86-7XWP-W9WF

Semantic MediaWiki affected by reflected XSS in `Special:Ask` via a forged cursor pagination token

Answer in brief

CVE-2026-77616 records a Medium severity (CVSS 6.1) vulnerability in Semantic MediaWiki affected by reflected XSS in `Special:Ask` via a forged cursor pagination token. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. The current feed maps mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki (composer), SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Analysis pending evidence review

HOL Guard separates source facts from reviewed analysis. See the methodology.

Published Sep 18, 2026Updated Sep 18, 2026Source checked Sep 18, 2026First seen by HOL Sep 18, 2026Material review Sep 18, 2026

Upstream Advisory

Key facts

Risk: Medium · CVSS 6.1
Exploitation: Not marked as known exploited
Affected software: 2 mapped packages or products
Fix availability: Available

Why this deserves its current priority

CVSS is 6.1. The current sources do not mark it as known exploited. Treat this as a source-backed prioritization signal, not a statement about your environment.

Analysis status

Analysis pending evidence review

Factual feed record only; HOL analysis is not approved for indexing. Read the methodology.

Affected scope and exposure questions

The current feed maps mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki (composer), SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki (generic). Check affected ranges and fixed versions before updating.

Mapped affected packages and fixed versions
Package	Affected range	Fixed version
mediawiki/semantic-media-wikicomposer	>=7.0.0,<=7.1.0	7.2.0
SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWikigeneric	>= 7.0.0, < 7.2.0	Not reported

Recommended response

Check inventory. Check lockfiles and deployed manifests for mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki, SemanticMediaWiki/SemanticMediaWiki.
Review the reported fix. Update mediawiki/semantic-media-wiki to 7.2.0 if you use the affected versions. Test the change in a non-production environment first.

Evidence timeline and material changes

Published upstream
Sep 18, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
Source modified
Sep 18, 2026
Evidence: source:cvelist:source_dates:source-dates:record
First seen by HOL
Sep 18, 2026

Sources and claim methodology

Upstream source 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.

Quoted source text, attributed separately from HOL analysis.