MediaWiki before 1.18.5, and 1.19.x before 1.19.2 saves passwords in the local database, (1) which could make it easier for context-dependent attackers to obtain cleartext passwords via a brute-force attack or, (2) when an authentication plugin returns a false in the strict function, could allow remote attackers to use old passwords for non-existing accounts in an external authentication system via unspecified vectors.