MoodleCMS
CVE-2016-3729
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 · uneditedThe user editing form in Moodle 3.0 through 3.0.3, 2.9 through 2.9.5, 2.8 through 2.8.11, 2.7 through 2.7.13, and earlier allows remote authenticated users to edit profile fields locked by the administrator.
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 contains a broken access control vulnerability in its user profile editing functionality. Authenticated users can bypass administrator-defined field lock settings and modify profile fields that should be read-only. The issue stems from client-side or insufficient server-side validation of the 'locked' profile field attribute in the user editing form.
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
= 2.7.0= 2.7.1= 2.7.2= 2.7.3= 2.7.4= 2.7.5= 2.7.6= 2.7.7= 2.7.8= 2.7.9= 2.7.10= 2.7.11CVSS 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
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check your Moodle versionLog into the Moodle site as administrator and navigate to Site administration > Server > Environment, or check the version.php file in the Moodle root directory. Look for the $version variable value.Affected if The installed version is between 2.7.0 and 2.7.11 inclusive, or exactly matches any of these: 2.7.0, 2.7.1, 2.7.2, 2.7.3, 2.7.4, 2.7.5, 2.7.6, 2.7.7, 2.7.8, 2.7.9, 2.7.10, or 2.7.11
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Identify custom profile fields with lock settingsNavigate to Site administration > Users > User profile fields. Review each custom profile field and check its properties for any lock or lockvalue settings configured by the administrator.Affected if Any custom profile fields exist with lock or locked settings enabled, making those fields intended to be read-only for users
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Verify server-side validation of locked fieldsExamine the server-side code that processes profile field updates. Look for validation logic in the user editing form handler that should enforce the locked attribute server-side rather than trusting client-side input.Affected if The server-side code does not properly validate and enforce the locked attribute before saving profile field changes, allowing the lock to be bypassed via form submission
You are affected if your Moodle installation runs version 2.7.0 through 2.7.11 and has custom profile fields configured with lock settings that can be bypassed by submitting the profile edit form with modified field values.
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 to Moodle versions 3.0.4+, 2.9.6+, 2.8.12+, or 2.7.14+ which contain the fix for proper server-side enforcement of profile field locking. Alternatively, ensure profile field locks are enforced server-side regardless of form submissions.
Fix this in Moodle
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-3729 — 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-2016-3729 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
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