To fix this issue, configure your web server to deny requests with URLs that have a path part ending in a dot followed by a dangerous file extension. For example, in Apache with mod_rewrite: RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \.[a-z]{1,4}$ [nocase] RewriteRule . - [forbidden]

I see that this snippet is to be found in ".htaccess" file inside ./images/ (this appears to be new file 1.16.3) Could the ".htaccess" be placed at top level (that is one above ./images/)?

Since the file is there, is there any need to change the web server configuration?

Am I the only person that's noticed Tim reposting of all the updates? Is the list server freaking out, or is my end messing with me? Rick Payton, I.T. Manager Morikawa & Associates, LLC (808) 572-1745 Office (808) 442-0978 eFax (808) 344-8249 Mobile www.mai-hawaii.com -----Original Message----- From: mediawiki-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org [mailto:mediawiki-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Tim Starling Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 5:23 PM To: mediawiki-announce(a)lists.wikimedia.org; mediawiki-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org; wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org Subject: [Mediawiki-l] [MediaWiki-announce] MediaWiki security release 1.16.3 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I would like to announce the release of MediaWiki 1.16.3, which is a security release. Three security issues were discovered. Masato Kinugawa discovered a cross-site scripting (XSS) issue, which affects Internet Explorer clients only, and only version 6 and earlier. Web server configuration changes are required to fix this issue. Upgrading MediaWiki will only be sufficient for people who use Apache with AllowOverride enabled. Due to the diversity of uploaded files that we allow, MediaWiki does not guarantee that uploaded files will be safe if they are interpreted by the client as some arbitrary file type, such as HTML. We rely on the web server to send the correct Content-Type header, and we rely on the web browser to respect it. This XSS issue arises due to IE 6 looking for a file extension in the query string of the URL (i.e. after the "?"), if no extension is found in path part of the URL. Masato Kinugawa discovered that the file extension in the path part can be hidden from IE 6 by substituting the "." with "%2E". To fix this issue, configure your web server to deny requests with URLs that have a path part ending in a dot followed by a dangerous file extension. For example, in Apache with mod_rewrite: RewriteEngine On RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} \.[a-z]{1,4}$ [nocase] RewriteRule . - [forbidden] Upgrading MediaWiki is necessary to fix this issue in dynamically-generated content. This issue is easier to exploit using dynamically generated content, since it requires no special privileges. Accounts on both public and private wikis can be compromised by clicking a malicious link in an email or website. For more details, see bug 28235. Wikipedia user Suffusion of Yellow discovered a CSS validation error in the wikitext parser. This is an XSS issue for Internet Explorer clients, and a privacy loss issue for other clients since it allows the embedding of arbitrary remote images. For more details, see bug 28450. MediaWiki developer Happy-Melon discovered that the transwiki import feature neglected to perform access control checks on form submission. The transwiki import feature is disabled by default. If it is enabled, it allows wiki pages to be copied from a remote wiki listed in $wgImportSources. The issue means that any user can trigger such an import to occur. For more details, see bug 28449. The localisations were updated using content from translatewiki.net. ********************************************************************** Download: http://download.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.16/mediawiki-1.16.3.tar.gz Patch to previous version (1.16.2), without interface text: http://download.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.16/mediawiki-1.16.3.patch.gz Interface text changes: http://download.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.16/mediawiki-i18n-1.16.3.patch .gz GPG signatures: http://download.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.16/mediawiki-1.16.3.tar.gz.sig http://download.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.16/mediawiki-1.16.3.patch.gz.s ig http://download.wikimedia.org/mediawiki/1.16/mediawiki-i18n-1.16.3.patch .gz.sig Public keys: https://secure.wikimedia.org/keys.html _______________________________________________ MediaWiki announcements mailing list To unsubscribe, go to: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list MediaWiki-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l _______________________________________________ MediaWiki-l mailing list MediaWiki-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l

Ok good it's not me then. I just checked the archives, it would appear that Tim is ... broken :P

From zimbra(a)mail.samara-aviagas.ru Tue May 24 17:18:29 2011

They use duplicate message IDs, which I suppose is why they didn't appear in Gmane. Maybe it's a test of a new spamming strategy. I've long said that Mailman is laughably insecure and that it's only a matter of time before it's spammed to death, and that the only solution will be to evacuate to a web forum. -- Tim Starling