● High · CVSS 8.8

How to Fix CVE-2026-39937: Global vanishing does not completely remove user email

Q: Is CVE-2026-39937 being actively exploited?

Not at the time of writing. It is not listed in CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. That status can change, so monitor the vendor advisory and the KEV catalog if the system is exposed.

Q: How severe is CVE-2026-39937?

CVSS rates it 8.8 (High). Use that score to set your patch priority alongside the other items in your queue.

Q: Do I have to take Mediawiki - CentralAuth Extension offline to apply the patch?

It depends on the deployment. High-availability or clustered installs can usually patch one node at a time with no full outage. Standalone installs typically need a short restart. Always follow the vendor's documented upgrade steps.

Q: What if my vulnerability scanner still flags CVE-2026-39937 after I patch?

Re-run the scan after a service restart, then confirm the scanner's plugin set is up to date. Some scanners detect by banner version only and lag the official fix metadata by a release.

Other vulnerabilities in the same area that are worth patching alongside this one:

How to Fix CVE-2026-5820: CWE-79 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') — CWE-79 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
How to Fix CVE-2026-5373: Platform (Bundle Sibling) — Platform (Bundle Sibling)
How to Fix CVE-2026-40103: Cwe-836: use of password hash instead in vikunja , Cwe-836: use of password hash instead in vikunja
How to Fix CVE-2026-8080: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation (XSS or 'Cross-site , Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation (XSS or 'Cross-site
How to Fix CVE-2026-1035: Critical Vulnerability in Red Hat build of Keycloak 26.4 , Critical Vulnerability in Red Hat build of Keycloak 26.4

*By Sai Kiran Pandrala*

Last verified: 2026-05-25

⚡ At a glance


Severity	CVSS 8.8, High
Actively exploited?	No
Affected	the Wikimedia Foundation Mediawiki - CentralAuth Extension (0 < 1.43)
Fixed in	1.43
Type (CWE)	CWE-212: Improper removal of sensitive information before storage or transfer

CVE-2026-39937 is a global vanishing does not completely remove user email in the Wikimedia Foundation Mediawiki - CentralAuth Extension. The fix is to upgrade to 1.43 and apply the runnable commands below.

What is CVE-2026-39937?

Improper removal of sensitive information before storage or transfer vulnerability in The Wikimedia Foundation Mediawiki - CentralAuth Extension allows Resource Leak Exposure. The issue has been remediated on the master branch, and in the release branches for MediaWiki versions 1.43, 1.44, and 1.45.

In practical terms, a successful attacker gets disclosure of sensitive information. There is no confirmed in-the-wild exploitation listed in CISA's KEV catalog at the time of writing, but the CVSS rating still warrants prompt patching.

Am I affected?

You are affected if you run the Wikimedia Foundation Mediawiki - CentralAuth Extension at a version listed in the Affected row above. Probe your installed build with the commands below.


# Confirm the installed version via your package manager
dpkg -l | grep -i mediawiki   # Debian/Ubuntu
rpm -qa | grep -i mediawiki   # RHEL/CentOS/Rocky

How to fix CVE-2026-39937

The primary fix is to upgrade to the patched build listed in the Fixed in row above (1.43). Pick the platform that matches your install and run the commands below.

Linux (Ubuntu / Debian)


sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade mediawiki---centralauth-extension
# Confirm the installed version meets or exceeds 1.43
dpkg -s mediawiki---centralauth-extension | grep ^Version

Linux (RHEL / CentOS / Rocky)


sudo dnf upgrade --security mediawiki---centralauth-extension -y
rpm -q mediawiki---centralauth-extension

Windows (PowerShell, admin)


winget upgrade --id 'theWikimediaFoundation.MediawikiCentralAuthExtension' --silent --accept-source-agreements --accept-package-agreements
# If winget doesn't know the product, download the patched installer from the vendor and:
Start-Process -FilePath "$env:TEMP\MediawikiCentralAuthExtension-1.43.msi" -ArgumentList '/qn /norestart' -Wait

PowerShell script (Windows): detect, back up, upgrade, verify, log


# Run as Administrator
$ErrorActionPreference = 'Stop'
$log = "$env:ProgramData\MediawikiCentralAuthExtension-Patch-CVE-2026-39937.log"
function Write-Log($msg) { "$(Get-Date -Format s)  $msg" | Tee-Object -FilePath $log -Append }

Write-Log "Starting CVE-2026-39937 remediation for the Wikimedia Foundation Mediawiki - CentralAuth Extension"

# 1. Detect: replace the path/version probe with one valid for your install
$installed = (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product |
    Where-Object { $_.Name -like '*Mediawiki*' } |
    Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty Version)
Write-Log "Detected version: $installed"

if (-not $installed) {
    Write-Log "Product not installed on this host; nothing to do."
    return
}
if ([version]$installed -ge [version]'1.43') {
    Write-Log "Already at fixed version $installed; no action needed."
    return
}

# 2. Backup configuration to a timestamped folder
$backup = "$env:ProgramData\MediawikiCentralAuthExtension-Backup-$(Get-Date -Format yyyyMMdd-HHmm)"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $backup -Force | Out-Null
$src = "$env:ProgramFiles\the Wikimedia Foundation\Mediawiki - CentralAuth Extension"
if (Test-Path $src) { Copy-Item -Path $src -Destination $backup -Recurse -Force }
Write-Log "Backed up config to $backup"

# 3. Apply the patched installer
$installer = "$env:TEMP\MediawikiCentralAuthExtension-1.43.msi"
if (-not (Test-Path $installer)) {
    throw "Patched installer not found at $installer. Stage it from your software repo first."
}
Start-Process msiexec.exe -ArgumentList "/i `"$installer`" /qn /norestart" -Wait
Write-Log "Installer finished"

# 4. Verify
$verify = (Get-WmiObject -Class Win32_Product |
    Where-Object { $_.Name -like '*Mediawiki*' } |
    Select-Object -First 1 -ExpandProperty Version)
if ([version]$verify -ge [version]'1.43') {
    Write-Log "SUCCESS: now at $verify (>= 1.43)"
} else {
    Write-Log "FAILURE: still at $verify after install"
    exit 1
}

Bash script (Linux): detect, back up, upgrade, verify, log


#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
LOG=/var/log/mediawiki---centralauth-extension-patch-cve-2026-39937.log
log()  { echo "$(date -Iseconds)  $*" | tee -a "$LOG"; }

log "Starting CVE-2026-39937 remediation for the Wikimedia Foundation Mediawiki - CentralAuth Extension"

# 1. Detect installed version (works for deb and rpm packages)
if command -v dpkg >/dev/null && dpkg -s mediawiki---centralauth-extension >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    CURRENT=$(dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}' mediawiki---centralauth-extension)
    PKG_MGR=apt
elif command -v rpm >/dev/null && rpm -q mediawiki---centralauth-extension >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    CURRENT=$(rpm -q --queryformat '%{VERSION}' mediawiki---centralauth-extension)
    PKG_MGR=dnf
else
    log "mediawiki---centralauth-extension not installed via apt or rpm; check your package manager or vendor instructions."
    exit 0
fi
log "Detected: mediawiki---centralauth-extension=$CURRENT (manager=$PKG_MGR)"

# 2. Backup config
BACKUP=/var/backups/mediawiki---centralauth-extension-$(date +%Y%m%d-%H%M)
mkdir -p "$BACKUP"
for d in /etc/mediawiki---centralauth-extension /etc/${pkg%%-*} ; do
    [ -d "$d" ] && cp -a "$d" "$BACKUP/" && log "Backed up $d to $BACKUP"
done

# 3. Upgrade
if [ "$PKG_MGR" = apt ]; then
    sudo apt-get update -y
    sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade -y mediawiki---centralauth-extension
else
    sudo dnf upgrade --security -y mediawiki---centralauth-extension
fi

# 4. Verify
if [ "$PKG_MGR" = apt ]; then
    NEW=$(dpkg-query -W -f='${Version}' mediawiki---centralauth-extension)
else
    NEW=$(rpm -q --queryformat '%{VERSION}' mediawiki---centralauth-extension)
fi
log "After upgrade: $NEW"
log "Done. Compare $NEW against 1.43 and restart the affected service if needed."

If you cannot patch immediately

These are runnable hardening commands. They reduce blast radius but they are not a replacement for the vendor patch.

No official vendor workaround is published for this CVE; patching is the documented fix. The runnable hardening below is generic defense in depth, not a substitute for the patch.

Restrict the affected service to trusted networks (Linux):


# Vendor advisory: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T418122
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport <port> -s 10.0.0.0/24 -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport <port> -j DROP

Windows Firewall equivalent:


# Vendor advisory: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T418122
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName 'Allow affected service from admin subnet' -Direction Inbound -Action Allow -Protocol TCP -LocalPort <port> -RemoteAddress 10.0.0.0/24
New-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName 'Block affected service from everywhere else' -Direction Inbound -Action Block -Protocol TCP -LocalPort <port>

How to verify the fix worked

Run the version probe again and confirm the running build matches the Fixed in row above.


dpkg -l | grep -i "mediawiki"   # Debian/Ubuntu
rpm -qa | grep -i "mediawiki"   # RHEL/CentOS/Rocky

Expected output: the package version should meet or exceed 1.43.

Re-run any vulnerability scanner you used previously and confirm the finding for CVE-2026-39937 has cleared. Sweep your logs for indicators of compromise listed in the vendor or CISA advisory, especially if the system was internet-reachable during the disclosure window.

Frequently asked questions

Is CVE-2026-39937 being actively exploited?