# CVE-2020-5302: unprivileged user can access priviledged action in MH-WikiBot

> Unprivileged users can execute privileged steward commands by impersonating a logged-in nickname due to missing authentication checks.

- **Severity:** High 8.2 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:H/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 7 Apr 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-7hf3-wvp8-34r9

## What is CVE-2020-5302?

CVE-2020-5302 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in examknow MH-WikiBot, published on 7 Apr 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

MH-WikiBot (an IRC Bot for interacting with the Miraheze API), had a bug that allowed any unprivileged user to access the steward commands on the IRC interface by impersonating the Nickname used by a privileged user as no check was made to see if they were logged in. The issue has been fixed in commit 23d9d5b0a59667a5d6816fdabb960b537a5f9ed1.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management), CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-5302?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Mh-Wikibot Project Mh-Wikibot.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-5302?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-5302 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-5302 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-5302 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-5302 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-5302 is a high-severity authentication bypass vulnerability in examknow MH-WikiBot, published on 7 Apr 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-5302 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: examknow MH-WikiBot. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

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-2020-5302/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5302/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-5302
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-5302
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-5302

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-5302/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.