CVE-2023-45371Network attack vector

Service interruption via unthrottled item merging

Published Oct 9, 2023 · Updated Sep 19, 2024

Resource exhaustion in affected Wikibase releases for MediaWiki allows remote attackers to interrupt service through repeated item merges. ItemMergeInteractor writes through WikiPageEntityStore instead of MediaWikiEditEntity, so it omits the edit-rate limiter and runs AbuseFilter only after two merge edits have been saved. No authentication or user interaction is required for the network request, and the documented security impact is limited to service availability.

CVSS severity7.5
High
EPSS probability0.51%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Resource exhaustion in affected Wikibase releases for MediaWiki allows remote attackers to interrupt service through repeated item merges. ItemMergeInteractor writes through WikiPageEntityStore instead of MediaWikiEditEntity, so it omits the edit-rate limiter and runs AbuseFilter only after two merge edits have been saved. No authentication or user interaction is required for the network request, and the documented security impact is limited to service availability.

The record

CVE
CVE-2023-45371
Published
Oct 9, 2023
Updated
Sep 19, 2024
Vendor
Unknown vendor
Product
Unknown product
Classifications
CWE-770, T1499.003
Attack vector
network
Privileges
unauthenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Oct 9, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Sep 19, 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?

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

7.5NIST NVDCVSS: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 exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
T1499.003Application Exhaustion Flood

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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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