Withe the resolution of Bug 66860, a missing reference list is now automatically added. But Bug 21798 "Misleading error message for omitted </ref> tag'" is still open. In the past, the missing reference list would be generated and editors were alerted that there was a problem. Now, there is no error and the following markup is rendered oddly.
Simple example:
<ref>1
<references />
Version: master
Severity: normal