MoodleCMS
CVE-2015-0217
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 · uneditedfilter/mediaplugin/filter.php in Moodle through 2.5.9, 2.6.x before 2.6.7, 2.7.x before 2.7.4, and 2.8.x before 2.8.2 allows remote authenticated users to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption or partial outage) via a crafted string that is matched against an improper regular expression.
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 confidenceThe mediaplugin filter in Moodle uses an improper regular expression to process user-supplied strings. An authenticated remote attacker can craft a malicious string that causes excessive CPU consumption when matched against the faulty regex, leading to denial of service. This is a classic Regular Expression Denial of Service (ReDoS) vulnerability.
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
<= 2.5.9= 2.5.0= 2.5.1= 2.5.2= 2.5.3= 2.5.4= 2.5.5= 2.5.6= 2.5.7= 2.5.8= 2.6.0= 2.6.1CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:C
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 installed Moodle versionLocate the version.php file in your Moodle root directory and read the $release or $version variable. Alternatively, log in as admin and navigate to Site Administration > Server > Environment or check the m_config table in the database for the 'version' entry.Affected if The installed version is 2.5.0 through 2.5.9, or exactly 2.6.0 or 2.6.1
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Verify mediaplugin filter is enabledLog in as admin and go to Site Administration > Plugins > Filters > Manage filters. Check if 'Media plugin' is listed as Active. Alternatively, query the m_filter_active table in the database where filter = 'filter/mediaplugin' and active = 1.Affected if The mediaplugin filter is enabled (active status = 1 or 'Active')
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Confirm filter applies to front page or relevant contextsIn the Filters management page, check the 'Apply to' column for the mediaplugin filter entry. This indicates which contexts (front page, courses, etc.) the filter processes.Affected if The filter is set to apply to contexts where untrusted user content can be entered (such as front page or course content areas)
You are affected if your Moodle version is 2.5.x through 2.5.9 or 2.6.0-2.6.1 AND the mediaplugin filter is enabled in your environment.
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 2.6.7, 2.7.4, 2.8.2 or later to obtain the patched regex implementation. As a temporary measure, disable the medaplugin filter until the upgrade can be applied.
Fix this in Moodle
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2015-0217 — 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-2015-0217 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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- 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