# CVE-2020-25827: OATHAuth extension in MediaWiki is not implementing rate limit

> Attackers can bypass OATH token rate limits in clustered MediaWiki environments, enabling brute-force attacks against two-factor authentication.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 27 Sep 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** BIT-mediawiki-2020-25827, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-25827, GHSA-rqvj-fc2x-99q6, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-25827

## What is CVE-2020-25827?

CVE-2020-25827 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 27 Sep 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in the OATHAuth extension in MediaWiki before 1.31.10 and 1.32.x through 1.34.x before 1.34.4. For Wikis using OATHAuth on a farm/cluster (such as via CentralAuth), rate limiting of OATH tokens is only done on a single site level. Thus, multiple requests can be made across many wikis/sites concurrently.

Weakness: CWE-307 (Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-25827?

5 open source packages ship an affected version, including mediawiki/core and mediawiki. It affects 2 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `mediawiki/core` | Packagist | From 1.31.0 | 1.31.9 |
| `mediawiki/core` | Packagist | From 1.31.0 | 1.31.9 |
| `mediawiki/core` | Packagist | From 1.32.0 | 1.34.3 |
| `mediawiki/core` | Packagist | From 1.32.0 | 1.34.3 |
| `mediawiki` | Bitnami | All versions | 1.31.10, 1.34.4 |

Products: Fedoraproject Fedora, Mediawiki Mediawiki.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-25827?

Upgrade mediawiki/core to a fixed version for your release line: 1.31.9 or 1.34.3.

## Is CVE-2020-25827 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-25827 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Fedoraproject Fedora

- [CVE-2024-4577](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4577/): PHP-CGI OS Command Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2021-39226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-39226/): Grafana Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-5544](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-5544/): VMware ESXi and Horizon DaaS OpenSLP Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4947](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4947/): Google Chromium V8 Type Confusion (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-4671](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-4671/): Google Chromium Visuals Use-After-Free (critical 9.6, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-25827 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-25827 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Fedoraproject Fedora, published on 27 Sep 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-25827 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected packages and fixed versions:
- mediawiki/core (Packagist): affected from 1.31.0; fixed in 1.31.9
- mediawiki/core (Packagist): affected from 1.31.0; fixed in 1.31.9
- mediawiki/core (Packagist): affected from 1.32.0; fixed in 1.34.3
- mediawiki/core (Packagist): affected from 1.32.0; fixed in 1.34.3
- mediawiki (Bitnami): affected all versions; fixed in 1.31.10, 1.34.4

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-25827/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-25827/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-25827
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-25827
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-25827

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-25827/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.