MoodleCMS
CVE-2012-2359
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 · uneditedadmin/roles/override.php in Moodle 2.0.x before 2.0.9, 2.1.x before 2.1.6, and 2.2.x before 2.2.3 allows remote authenticated users to gain privileges by leveraging the teacher role and modifying their own capabilities, as demonstrated by obtaining the backup:userinfo capability.
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 confidenceMoodle admin/roles/override.php before versions 2.0.9, 2.1.6, and 2.2.3 contains a privilege escalation vulnerability where authenticated users with the teacher role can modify their own role capabilities to gain elevated privileges, such as the backup:userinfo capability.
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
= 2.0.0= 2.0.1= 2.0.2= 2.0.3= 2.0.4= 2.0.5= 2.0.6= 2.0.7= 2.0.8= 2.1.0= 2.1.1= 2.1.2CVSS 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
- Single
- Confidentiality
- Partial
- Integrity
- Partial
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check Moodle versionNavigate to Site Administration > Server > Environment or look at version.php in the Moodle root directory to determine the installed versionAffected if The installed version is between 2.0.0 and 2.0.8, between 2.1.0 and 2.1.6, or between 2.2.0 and 2.2.2 (versions before 2.0.9, 2.1.6, or 2.2.3)
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Verify vulnerable file presenceCheck if the file admin/roles/override.php exists in the Moodle installation directoryAffected if The file exists and the Moodle version falls within the affected range
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Inspect teacher role permissionsGo to Site Administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles and verify if the teacher role has the capability to override roles or modify role definitionsAffected if Teachers have the ability to override role capabilities or access admin/roles/override.php functionality
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Check for modified teacher capabilitiesNavigate to Site Administration > Users > Permissions > Assign system roles and identify users with teacher role. Then check Site Administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles > Teacher for any granted elevated capabilities such as backup:userinfoAffected if Teachers have been granted elevated capabilities like backup:userinfo that should not normally be assigned to teachers
The environment is affected if running a vulnerable Moodle version (2.0.0-2.0.8, 2.1.0-2.1.6, or 2.2.0-2.2.2) and the teacher role has the capability to override role definitions in admin/roles/override.php.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade Moodle to version 2.0.9, 2.1.6, 2.2.3 or later to patch the capability override vulnerability in admin/roles/override.php.
Fix this in Moodle
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,328.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2012-2359 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2012-2359 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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