CVE-2013-4572Network attack vector

Autocreated-account impersonation via cached session cookie

Published Feb 6, 2020 · Updated Aug 6, 2024

Session fixation in affected MediaWiki releases allows remote attackers to assume autocreated accounts through cached session cookies. CentralNotice marks an autocreation response public in Cache-Control, causing a shared intermediary to store its new session cookie and replay it. Exploitation requires CentralNotice, user autocreation, and a shared HTTP cache in MediaWiki before 1.19.9, 1.20.x before 1.20.8, and 1.21.x before 1.21.3; the replayed cookie grants the created user's session.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability2.14%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Session fixation in affected MediaWiki releases allows remote attackers to assume autocreated accounts through cached session cookies. CentralNotice marks an autocreation response public in Cache-Control, causing a shared intermediary to store its new session cookie and replay it. Exploitation requires CentralNotice, user autocreation, and a shared HTTP cache in MediaWiki before 1.19.9, 1.20.x before 1.20.8, and 1.21.x before 1.21.3; the replayed cookie grants the created user's session.

The record

CVE
CVE-2013-4572
Published
Feb 6, 2020
Updated
Aug 6, 2024
Vendor
Wikimedia Foundation
Product
MediaWiki
Classifications
CWE-384, T1539
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 6, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 6, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=1.20.x before 1.20.8
  2. Affected versionversion=1.21.x before 1.21.3
  3. Affected versionversion=before 1.19.9

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Wikimedia Foundation · MediaWikiversion=1.20.x before 1.20.8; version=1.21.x before 1.21.3; version=before 1.19.9

Published CVSS scores

7.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
5.0NIST NVDAV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 9, 2026Sep 15, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 15, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-384Session Fixation
T1539Steal Web Session Cookie

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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