CVE-2022-28204Public exploitNetwork attack vector

Service interruption via pathological backlink queries

Published Sep 19, 2022 · Updated May 29, 2025

Denial of service in Wikimedia MediaWiki 1.37.0 and 1.37.1 allows remote attackers to tie up web requests through Special:WhatLinksHere. Special:WhatLinksHere orders backlink rows only by source page ID while filtering across many namespaces, forcing inefficient database scans for heavily linked targets. A public wiki exposing the special page and a target used on very many pages permit repeated unauthenticated requests to exhaust database and web-worker capacity.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability0.95%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Denial of service in Wikimedia MediaWiki 1.37.0 and 1.37.1 allows remote attackers to tie up web requests through Special:WhatLinksHere. Special:WhatLinksHere orders backlink rows only by source page ID while filtering across many namespaces, forcing inefficient database scans for heavily linked targets. A public wiki exposing the special page and a target used on very many pages permit repeated unauthenticated requests to exhaust database and web-worker capacity.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-28204
Published
Sep 19, 2022
Updated
May 29, 2025
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-400, T1499.003
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Sep 19, 2022CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 29, 2025Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Affected buildAffected product and version details are unavailable.

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectornetwork
Required privilegesunauthenticated

What is affected?

Affected products and versions are unavailable in this record.

Published CVSS scores

7.5CISA-ADPCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectornetwork
Privilegesunauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitPublished

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-400Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
T1499.003Application Exhaustion Flood

Public exploit references

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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