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starcitizentools/citizen-skin is vulnerable to Stored XSS attack in the legacy search bar through page descriptions

High severity GitHub Reviewed Published Jul 3, 2025 in StarCitizenTools/mediawiki-skins-Citizen • Updated Jul 3, 2025

Package

composer starcitizentools/citizen-skin (Composer)

Affected versions

>= 1.9.4, < 3.4.0

Patched versions

3.4.0

Description

Summary

Page descriptions are inserted into raw HTML without proper sanitization by the Citizen skin when using the old search bar.

Details

The descriptions, which are unsanitized, are inserted as raw HTML:
https://github.com/StarCitizenTools/mediawiki-skins-Citizen/blob/d4dfc3697a82948b3b9c4d44e9a273c79bc86b87/resources/skins.citizen.search/templates/TypeaheadListItem.mustache#L18

PoC

All of the reproduction methods require the command palette to be disabled via $wgCitizenEnableCommandPalette = false;.
Additionally, the action API must be used as the Search Gateway via $wgCitizenSearchGateway = 'mwActionApi';.

TextExtracts as the description source

  • Enable the TextExtracts extension
  • Add $wgCitizenSearchDescriptionSource = 'textextracts'; to your LocalSettings.php
  • Create a page called CitizenXSSTextExtracts and insert <img src="" onerror="alert('citizen search xss')"> into it
  • Open the search modal and search for CitizenXSSTextExtracts

image

Description2 as the description source

  • Enable the Description2 extension
  • Add $wgEnableMetaDescriptionFunctions = true; to your LocalSettings.php to enable the {{#description2:}} parser function
  • Add $wgCitizenSearchDescriptionSource = 'pagedescription'; to your LocalSettings.php
  • Create a page called CitizenXSSDescription2 and insert {{#description2:<img src="" onerror="alert('citizen search xss 2')">}} into it
  • Open the search modal and search for CitizenXSSDescription2

image

Wikibase as the description source

Note that this method is currently untested due to issues I experienced when setting up Wikibase.

  • Enable Wikibase client + repo in your wiki
  • Add $wgCitizenSearchDescriptionSource = 'wikidata'; to your LocalSettings.php
  • Have an item with a description like <img src="" onerror="alert('citizen search xss 3')">
  • Open the search modal and search for the page linked to the item

ShortDescription as the description source

  • Enable the ShortDescription extension
  • Add $wgCitizenSearchDescriptionSource = 'wikidata'; to your LocalSettings.php
  • Create a page called CitizenXSSDescription4 and insert {{SHORTDESC:<img src="" onerror="alert('citizen search xss 4')">}} into it
  • Open the search modal and search for CitizenXSSDescription4

Impact

On all wikis that use the aforementioned settings (command palette disabled or using an old release where the old search bar is still used; using the action API as the search gateway), anybody who can edit pages is able to insert XSS payloads into the DOM for other users who are searching for specific pages.

References

Published by the National Vulnerability Database Jul 3, 2025
Published to the GitHub Advisory Database Jul 3, 2025
Reviewed Jul 3, 2025
Last updated Jul 3, 2025

Severity

High

CVSS overall score

This score calculates overall vulnerability severity from 0 to 10 and is based on the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS).
/ 10

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
Low
Availability
Low

CVSS v3 base metrics

Attack vector: More severe the more the remote (logically and physically) an attacker can be in order to exploit the vulnerability.
Attack complexity: More severe for the least complex attacks.
Privileges required: More severe if no privileges are required.
User interaction: More severe when no user interaction is required.
Scope: More severe when a scope change occurs, e.g. one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.
Confidentiality: More severe when loss of data confidentiality is highest, measuring the level of data access available to an unauthorized user.
Integrity: More severe when loss of data integrity is the highest, measuring the consequence of data modification possible by an unauthorized user.
Availability: More severe when the loss of impacted component availability is highest.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L

EPSS score

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

This score estimates the probability of this vulnerability being exploited within the next 30 days. Data provided by FIRST.
(13th percentile)

Weaknesses

CVE ID

CVE-2025-53368

GHSA ID

GHSA-rq6g-6g94-jfr4

Credits

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