Authorization
- Authorization in MediaWiki
Authorization in the context of MediaWiki refers to the process of determining what a user is *allowed* to do within the wiki. It's distinct from Authentication, which confirms *who* a user is. Authentication verifies identity; authorization determines access rights. This article will provide a comprehensive overview of authorization mechanisms within MediaWiki, geared towards beginners, covering core concepts, user rights management, and advanced techniques. Understanding authorization is critical for maintaining a secure and well-managed wiki, preventing unwanted edits, and ensuring the integrity of your content.
Core Concepts
At its heart, MediaWiki's authorization system revolves around the concept of rights. Rights are permissions that define what actions a user or group of users can perform. These actions include:
- Reading articles: The fundamental right to view wiki content.
- Editing articles: The ability to modify existing articles.
- Creating articles: The permission to create new pages.
- Deleting articles: The ability to remove pages (a highly restricted right).
- Protecting articles: Setting restrictions on who can edit specific pages.
- Administering the wiki: High-level rights for managing the wiki's configuration and users.
- Viewing user rights: The ability to see the rights assigned to other users.
- Managing user rights: The ability to assign or revoke rights for other users.
These rights aren't granted directly to users in most cases. Instead, MediaWiki utilizes user groups. User groups are collections of users who share a common set of rights. This simplifies administration, as you grant rights to the group, and all members of that group inherit those rights.
The primary user groups in a default MediaWiki installation are:
- Users: All registered users are automatically members of this group. Typically has limited rights, such as reading and editing their own user pages.
- Registered users: Users who have completed the registration process. Usually grants the ability to create articles and edit most pages.
- Editors: A group often used to grant more extensive editing permissions than registered users.
- Moderators: Users who can moderate content, such as deleting revisions or protecting pages.
- Administrators: The highest level of access, with full control over the wiki. Administrators can manage users, configure the wiki, and perform any action.
- Bureaucrats: Can manage user groups and assign the administrator role.
You can create custom user groups to tailor the authorization system to your specific needs. For example, you might create a "Historians" group with specific rights related to historical content, or a "Template Editors" group with permissions to modify templates.
User Rights Management
Managing user rights is typically done through the Special:UserRights page. Only users with the `userrights` right (usually administrators) can access and modify user rights. This page allows you to:
- View a user's current rights: See which groups a user belongs to and the rights they inherit.
- Add a user to a group: Grant a user the rights associated with that group.
- Remove a user from a group: Revoke the rights associated with that group.
The interface is straightforward: you enter the username, select the desired group(s), and click "Add user to group(s)" or "Remove user from group(s)".
Beyond the Special:UserRights page, rights can also be managed programmatically through the MediaWiki API. This is useful for automating user provisioning and deprovisioning, particularly in large-scale deployments.
Rights Definitions and Hierarchy
MediaWiki rights are not simply "on" or "off". Many rights have a hierarchical structure, allowing for granular control. For example, the `edit` right doesn't simply allow editing all pages. It can be further restricted by page protection (see below).
Rights are defined in the `rights.php` file within your MediaWiki installation. This file lists all available rights and their descriptions. While you generally shouldn't directly edit `rights.php`, understanding its contents can help you grasp the full range of available permissions.
The hierarchy of rights means that a higher-level right implicitly includes lower-level rights. For instance, the `admin` right includes all other administrative rights. This helps to avoid redundancy and simplifies rights management.
Page Protection
Page protection is a crucial authorization mechanism for controlling access to specific pages. It allows you to restrict who can edit a page, even if they have general editing rights. There are several levels of page protection:
- Fully Protected: Only administrators can edit the page.
- Semi-Protected: Only registered users can edit the page. Anonymous (IP) users are prevented from editing.
- Extended Protected: Prevents changes to the page's cascading style sheets (CSS) and JavaScript.
- Template Protected: Protects templates from being edited by non-template editors.
- Edit Protected: (Deprecated, use semi-protection instead)
Page protection is typically used for high-profile pages, frequently vandalized pages, or pages that require careful coordination among editors. Administrators can apply and remove page protection through the "View History" page of the target article.
Special Pages and Authorization
Many Special pages within MediaWiki are also subject to authorization restrictions. For example:
- Special:ListUsers: Lists all users on the wiki. Access may be restricted to administrators.
- Special:Log: Displays various logs, such as deletion logs and block logs. Access may be restricted to administrators.
- Special:BlockIP: Allows administrators to block IP addresses or usernames.
- Special:Import: Allows importing pages from XML dumps.
The availability of these special pages is often controlled by the `specialpage` right, which is typically granted to administrators.
Advanced Authorization Techniques
Beyond the core mechanisms described above, MediaWiki offers several advanced authorization techniques:
- Extension-Based Authorization: Many extensions add their own rights and authorization mechanisms. For example, the FlaggedRevisions extension introduces a "Reviewer" right to approve edits. The AbuseFilter extension allows administrators to create filters that automatically block or flag suspicious edits.
- Custom Rights: Through extensions like RightsManagement, you can create custom rights tailored to your specific needs. This provides a high degree of flexibility in controlling access to wiki features.
- Skin-Based Authorization: Certain skins may offer additional authorization features, such as restricting access to specific sections of the wiki based on user groups.
- API-Based Authorization: The MediaWiki API allows you to implement complex authorization logic in external applications. This is useful for integrating the wiki with other systems, such as content management systems or user directories.
- OAuth Integration: Integrating with OAuth providers allows users to authenticate using their existing accounts on other platforms, simplifying the login process and potentially enhancing security.
Troubleshooting Authorization Issues
When users report authorization issues, here are some common troubleshooting steps:
1. Verify User Group Membership: Double-check that the user is a member of the appropriate user group(s) using Special:UserRights. 2. Check Page Protection: If a user cannot edit a page, verify that the page is not fully or semi-protected. 3. Examine Extension Conflicts: If you recently installed or updated an extension, it may be interfering with the authorization system. Disable the extension temporarily to see if the issue resolves. 4. Review Custom Rights: If you've created custom rights, ensure they are defined correctly and that users are assigned to them appropriately. 5. Clear Caches: Sometimes, cached data can cause authorization issues. Clear the MediaWiki caches to force a refresh. 6. Inspect Server Logs: The MediaWiki server logs may contain error messages related to authorization failures.
Security Considerations
Proper authorization is paramount for wiki security. Here are some best practices:
- Principle of Least Privilege: Grant users only the minimum rights necessary to perform their tasks.
- Regularly Review User Rights: Periodically audit user rights to ensure they are still appropriate.
- Limit Administrator Access: Restrict the number of users with administrator privileges.
- Keep Software Updated: Regularly update MediaWiki and its extensions to patch security vulnerabilities.
- Enable Two-Factor Authentication: Enhance security by requiring users to provide a second factor of authentication.
- Monitor Logs: Regularly review the wiki's logs for suspicious activity.
Further Resources
- Help:User rights
- Help:Protecting pages
- Manual:Configuration settings#User rights management
- [MediaWiki official documentation on user rights](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:User_rights)
- [MediaWiki official documentation on page protection](https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Protecting_pages)
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