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CVE-2026-103044 – XML Injection / XSS – MediaWiki EasyTimeline Extension before 1.46.1, 1.45.5, 1.43

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Summary

CVE-2026-103044 is an XML injection vulnerability (CWE-91, "blind XPath injection") in the EasyTimeline extension for MediaWiki, maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation. The flaw stems from image map (.map) files generated by EasyTimeline being served with an application/xml content type despite containing unescaped, attacker-influenced attribute values. It has been assigned a CVSS v3.1 base score of 9.8 (Critical).

Technical details

  • Root cause: EasyTimeline (which relies on the ploticus library) does not escape double quotes in link attributes when generating .map image-map files. When such a file happens to validate as well-formed XML, it was served by MediaWiki with a Content-Type: application/xml header.
  • Trigger conditions: An attacker creates or edits a timeline with specially crafted link text containing unescaped double quotes, allowing them to break out of an href/attribute context inside the generated .map file.
  • Attack vector: Network — no authentication or special privileges are required beyond the ability to submit timeline content that generates a .map file (e.g., via wiki editing), and no user interaction is required to trigger the condition once the file is requested/parsed as XML.
  • Impact: Because the file is interpreted as XML rather than plain text, an attacker can inject namespaced elements (e.g., a namespaced <script>-equivalent element) that execute in the context of the vulnerable page, leading to cross-site scripting / XML injection with the potential for full compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability as reflected in the CVSS impact metrics.
  • The CISA ADP enrichment additionally classifies this issue under CWE-22 (Path Traversal) in its problem-type metadata.

Affected software

  • MediaWiki EasyTimeline extension: all versions before 1.46.1
  • MediaWiki EasyTimeline extension: all versions before 1.45.5
  • MediaWiki EasyTimeline extension: all versions before 1.43.10
    (Fix applies across the master, REL1_43, REL1_45, and REL1_46 branches of the mediawiki/extensions/timeline repository.)

Severity

  • CVSS v3.1 Base Score: 9.8 (Critical)
  • Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Mitigation and recommended actions

  • Immediate: Upgrade the EasyTimeline extension to version 1.46.1 (master/REL1_46), 1.45.5 (REL1_45), or 1.43.10 (REL1_43), depending on the MediaWiki branch in use. The upstream fix changes the content type used when serving generated .map files from application/xml to text/plain; charset=utf-8, preventing XML parsers from interpreting injected content.
  • If immediate patching is not possible: Restrict or disable the EasyTimeline extension on internet-facing MediaWiki instances until patched, and consider configuring the web server/reverse proxy to override the Content-Type of .map files served from the extension’s output path to text/plain.

References

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