dbcve.org
MoodleCMS

CVE-2011-4279

MEDIUM · 5.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2012-07-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
59/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Moodle 2.0.x before 2.0.2 does not use the forceloginforprofiles setting for course-profiles access control, which makes it easier for remote attackers to obtain potentially sensitive information via vectors involving use of a search engine, as demonstrated by the search functionality of Google, Yahoo!, Wrensoft Zoom, MSN, Yandex, and AltaVista.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

In Moodle 2.0.x before 2.0.2, the forceloginforprofiles setting is not properly enforced for course profile pages, allowing search engine crawlers to index user profile information that should require authentication.

MitigationUpgrade to Moodle 2.0.2 or later where the forceloginforprofiles setting is correctly applied to course profiles, preventing unauthenticated search engine indexing of user information.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
MoodleCMS
Affected:= 2.0.0= 2.0.1

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
None
Availability
None

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify Moodle version
    Check the version file in moodle/version.php or the $CFG->version value in moodle/config.php
    Affected if The installed version is 2.0.0 or 2.0.1
  2. Verify forceloginforprofiles setting is enabled
    Navigate to Site Administration > Security > Site policies and confirm 'Force login for profiles' is checked, or query the mdl_config table for name='forceloginforprofiles' with value=1
    Affected if The setting exists and is enabled (value=1)
  3. Test course profile page access without authentication
    Open a browser private/incognito window and attempt to access a course user profile page (e.g., /course/user.php?id=COURSEID&user=USERID) without logging in
    Affected if The page loads and displays user profile information without requiring authentication

You are affected if running Moodle 2.0.0 or 2.0.1 with forceloginforprofiles enabled but course profile pages remain publicly accessible to unauthenticated users.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to Moodle 2.0.2 or later where the forceloginforprofiles setting is correctly applied to course profiles, preventing unauthenticated search engine indexing of user information.

Fix this in Moodle Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,240
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2011-4279 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data