Skip to main content

Security report for mediawiki.org

Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. · Technology · United States

Medium risk. 4 critical or high findings in Security headers, GDPR outside view and 1 other check.

Security score

72/100

Risk levelMedium

0–100, higher is better. How it is calculated

MediaWiki is an established open source collaboration and documentation platform developed and maintained by the Wikimedia Foundation, a large non-profit organization. It powers Wikipedia and tens of thousands of other websites worldwide, offering a multilingual, extensible, and reliable wiki software solution. The platform targets system administrators, users, developers, and contributors who seek to manage and share knowledge effectively. The business model is based on open source software with community contributions and professional consulting services. The website content is comprehensive, professionally presented, and consistent with the Wikimedia brand. Technically, the website runs on the MediaWiki framework version 1.45.0, leveraging modern web technologies such as JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5. It is hosted on Wikimedia Foundation infrastructure, likely in Equinix data centers, and demonstrates fast performance, good mobile optimization, and accessibility. SEO practices and metadata are well implemented, including Open Graph and JSON-LD structured data. From a security perspective, the site enforces HTTPS with strong SSL configuration and includes security headers. CSRF tokens are present, and no vulnerable libraries or exposed sensitive data were detected. However, explicit security policies, incident response contacts, and vulnerability disclosure mechanisms are not prominently published, representing an area for improvement. Overall, the website is trustworthy, safe, and professionally maintained with high content quality and technical maturity. The domain is long-established and consistent with the Wikimedia Foundation's history. Privacy policies and terms of use are comprehensive and GDPR compliant. No blocking or WAF challenges were detected, allowing full content access and analysis.

Scanned

NIS2 and GDPR posture

GDPR outside view
68/ 100 · Medium
Checks completed
7of 7

NIS2 Art. 21(2)

  1. (a) Risk analysis and security policies: Not visible from outside
  2. (b) Incident handling: One indicator
  3. (c) Business continuity, backups and crisis management: Not visible from outside
  4. (d) Supply chain security: Not visible from outside
  5. (e) Secure acquisition, development and maintenance, including vulnerability handling: Partly checked
  6. (f) Assessing the effectiveness of security measures: Not visible from outside
  7. (g) Cyber hygiene and security training: Not visible from outside
  8. (h) Cryptography and encryption: Partly checked
  9. (i) HR security, access control and asset management: One indicator
  10. (j) Multi-factor authentication and secured communications: Not visible from outside

This scan rated NIS2 with an earlier keyword method that is no longer shown; rescan for the per-article view. Risk management, continuity, supply chain, training, MFA, management oversight (Art. 20) and incident reporting (Art. 23) need internal evidence, and Guard cannot tell whether NIS2 applies to this organisation.

GDPR is indicative only, based on publicly visible signals: Articles 7, 12, 13 and 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive. Not a certification or legal assessment.

Priority findings

4 findings rated critical or high. Fix these first.

  1. Security headers

    Security headers are instructions your web server sends to every visitor’s browser. Missing ones leave visitors more exposed to attacks such as clickjacking and injected scripts.

    • High

      Missing X-Frame-Options header

      Prevents clickjacking attacks

      What to do: Add "X-Frame-Options: DENY" or "X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN"

    • High

      Missing Content-Security-Policy header

      Controls resources the browser is allowed to load

      What to do: Implement a Content-Security-Policy appropriate for your application

      • ASVS V3.4.3
      • OWASP Secure Headers: OWASP Secure Headers Project recommends Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'; form-action 'self'; base-uri 'self'; object-src 'none';…

  2. GDPR outside view

    These are the privacy signals visitors and data protection authorities look for under GDPR.

    • High

      No Cookie Consent Banner found

      GDPR requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies

      What to do: Implement a cookie consent banner that appears on first visit

  3. SSL/TLS

    TLS encrypts the connection and proves the site is really yours. Weak or expiring certificates trigger browser warnings and put traffic at risk.

    • High

      Weak SSL Key Length

      SSL certificate uses 256-bit key, which is considered weak

      What to do: Use at least 2048-bit RSA or 256-bit ECC key

      • CWE-326
      • OWASP A04:2025
      • Mozilla TLS: Mozilla Server Side TLS 6.0 intermediate: rsa_key_size 2048

Need hands-on remediation? Email guard@offseq.com

Keep watching mediawiki.org

This scan found 19 issues across 6 checks. Monitoring re-runs those checks daily, emails you when something material changes and records each fix, so you can show progress.

Daily monitoring

Recommended

€25per month

  • TLS certificates and expiry
  • DNS records
  • SPF, DKIM and DMARC
  • Security headers
  • GDPR and NIS2 posture
  • Exposed services
  • Third-party trackers
  • Security score drift

Email alerts on material changes and an exportable JSON history of every change.

Billed monthly to your card. Cancel anytime. See sample alerts.

Full report

€39.90one-time

  • The complete analysis as a PDF you can cite
  • Email delivery with an unlock code
  • Lifetime access to this report

Prices incl. 21% VAT. Secure checkout by Mollie; sold by SEQ SIA, Latvia.

Results by check

Each check with its score, findings and the evidence it collected.

How this score is calculated

The security score runs 0–100, higher is better. It is the plain average of the security checks that completed in this scan, each counted equally. A check that could not run is left out: it counts neither as a pass nor as a fail.

Counted in this score

SSL/TLS
75
Security headers
40
Email security
70
DNS health
80
Network security
100
GDPR outside view
68
Average
72

Not counted

  • NIS2 outside view: Re-weights evidence from the TLS, email, DNS, network and hygiene checks, so counting it would count that evidence twice. Shown on its own.
  • OffSeq Observations: An AI reading of the site, useful context but not reproducible evidence. Shown on its own.

Findings that cap the score at 49

Each of these is serious on its own, so while any is present the site cannot rate better than high risk, however good the other checks are.

  • The certificate is not trusted by browsers
  • The website is not served over HTTPS
  • A database, remote desktop, file-sharing or Telnet service is reachable from the internet
  • The page loads a script from a compromised source
  • The domain registration has expired
  • SPF authorises every server to send mail as the domain

Partial scans

When the site blocks Guard or most checks cannot run, the score covers only the checks that ran (usually DNS and email), is capped at 75 and is shown as partial, without a risk level.

Risk levels

  • Critical0–25
  • High26–49
  • Medium50–75
  • Low76–100

Technical appendix

Business context, site observations and technical notes gathered during the scan, and the standards behind each reference.

Business context

Business profile

MediaWiki holds a leading position in the open source wiki software market, powering Wikipedia and thousands of other sites. Its competitive advantage lies in its strong community, backing by the Wikimedia Foundation, and extensibility through numerous extensions. The business model is non-profit with revenue streams from donations and professional consulting. Target customers include organizations needing collaborative knowledge management platforms. Growth indicators include active community events and regular software releases. The partnership ecosystem includes Wikimedia projects and developer portals. Strategic observations highlight the importance of maintaining security transparency and enhancing incident response visibility to strengthen trust further.

Security posture

The security maturity of the MediaWiki website is high, with enforced HTTPS, strong SSL configuration, and presence of security headers. No critical vulnerabilities or exposed sensitive data were found. However, the absence of a published security policy, vulnerability disclosure page, and incident response contact information indicates gaps in security transparency and readiness. GDPR compliance is evident through comprehensive privacy and cookie policies, though a cookie consent mechanism is not implemented. The security culture appears mature but could benefit from enhanced communication of security practices and incident handling procedures.

Recommendations

  1. Publish a dedicated security policy and incident response page to improve transparency.
  2. Implement a cookie consent banner to enhance GDPR compliance and user privacy control.
  3. Create and maintain a vulnerability disclosure program and security.txt file to facilitate responsible reporting.
  4. Provide clear security contact channels such as security@ or abuse@ email addresses.
  5. Regularly audit third-party dependencies and update them to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.
Site observations

Automated reading of the public site. Ratings are indicative.

Business

Company
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Description
MediaWiki is a collaboration and documentation platform used by tens of thousands of websites and thousands of companies and organisations. It powers Wikipedia and helps collect and organize knowledge. It is multilingual, free and open source, extensible, customizable, reliable, and free of charge.
Key services
MediaWiki software download and installation, Extensions and customization, Developer documentation and support, Community support and contribution
Content quality
excellent
Branding
consistent

Technology

Stack
MediaWiki 1.45.0-wmf.22, JavaScript, CSS, HTML5
Frameworks
MediaWiki framework
Platforms
Web
Performance
fast
Mobile
good
Accessibility
good
SEO
good

Security

Observed score
90/100
Good practices seen
  • HTTPS enforced
  • No exposed sensitive data in HTML
  • No vulnerable libraries detected
  • CSRF tokens present in scripts

Analytics and tracking

Tracking level
minimal
Privacy practices
excellent

Advertising

Transparency
excellent

Site quality

Design
excellent
User experience
excellent
Content relevance
excellent
Navigation
excellent
Professionalism
excellent
Trustworthiness
high

Key observations

  1. Website is fully accessible with no blocking or WAF challenges.
  2. Content is rich, well-structured, and professionally maintained.
  3. Strong association with Wikimedia Foundation and open source community.
  4. No direct contact emails or phone numbers found on main page.
  5. Privacy and terms policies are hosted on Wikimedia Foundation domain.
  6. No advertising or tracking scripts detected in HTML content.
  7. Multiple external links point to Wikimedia and related projects.
  8. No security.txt or explicit vulnerability disclosure page found.
  9. No explicit security incident response contact information found.
Technical notes

Notes

The website infrastructure is robust, running the latest stable MediaWiki version with a modern tech stack including JavaScript and CSS. Hosting is managed by the Wikimedia Foundation with likely use of Equinix data centers, ensuring reliable performance and uptime. The site is mobile optimized and accessible, with good SEO practices including meta tags and structured data. There is no evidence of technical debt or outdated technologies. Opportunities exist to enhance security transparency and user privacy mechanisms. Overall, the technical implementation supports the business goals effectively with minimal risks.
Standards and sources

Reference chips under each finding point to the standard, regulation or specification the finding relates to. They are taken from the official datasets below and mapped conservatively: a finding with no defensible link shows none. NIS2 and GDPR references mark where a finding is relevant evidence, not a compliance verdict. Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2690 binds digital infrastructure and digital service providers; for other entities it is the most detailed public reading of the Article 21 measures. WCAG, EN 301 549, European Accessibility Act and Web Accessibility Directive references name the requirement an automated accessibility rule relates to; they are not a conformance verdict.

Retrieved 2026-10-25

Earlier scans of this domain

  1. 72/100Medium27 findingsView report
  2. 72/100 −1Medium27 findingsView report
  3. 73/100Medium23 findingsView report
Reviews of this site

Share your experience with mediawiki.org. Every review is verified by email and published after moderation.

Overall rating
Select a rating
4000 characters remaining

We’ll email you to confirm your review and keep your details private.

Community rating

No published reviews yet. Be the first to review mediawiki.org.

Feedback on this report

Rate this report, add an optional comment, and tell us if you want a security specialist to follow up.

Overall report quality
Select a rating
2000 characters remaining

We only use your feedback to improve Guard reports. Contact details are never shared.