CVE-2017-1000171
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 · uneditedMahara Mobile before 1.2.1 is vulnerable to passwords being sent to the Mahara access log in plain text.
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 confidenceMahara Mobile versions prior to 1.2.1 transmit user credentials to the Mahara server, which then logs these passwords in plain text to the access log. This exposes user passwords in plaintext within server logs, creating a critical confidentiality breach.
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<= 1.2.0CVSS 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
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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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Identify Mahara Mobile usageReview your environment for any instances of Mahara Mobile application installed on mobile devices or in use by users. Check mobile device management (MDM) systems or user device inventories for Mahara Mobile installations.Affected if Mahara Mobile version 1.2.0 or earlier is installed and connected to your Mahara server.
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Determine Mahara Mobile versionCheck the installed Mahara Mobile application version on affected devices. In Android, go to Settings > Apps > Mahara Mobile. In iOS, go to Settings > Mahara Mobile. Compare the version number against the affected range: versions 1.2.0 and earlier.Affected if The installed version is 1.2.0 or any version prior to 1.2.1.
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Review server access logs for plaintext passwordsExamine your Mahara server access logs (typically found in Apache logs, Nginx logs, or Mahara's own log directories) for patterns matching user passwords transmitted during mobile authentication requests. Search for login POST requests from mobile clients containing password parameters in plaintext.Affected if Plaintext user passwords appear in server access logs, particularly in authentication requests originating from Mahara Mobile clients.
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Check authentication endpoint activityReview server logs for authentication activity directed at mobile API endpoints. Look for requests to paths such as /mobile/auth/ or similar mobile authentication handlers, noting whether credentials are being logged alongside these requests.Affected if Authentication requests from mobile clients are being recorded with credentials visible in plain text in the access logs.
A user is affected if Mahara Mobile version 1.2.0 or earlier has been used to authenticate against the server, and plaintext passwords are present in server access logs from those mobile authentication events.
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.
dbcve · scopedUpdate Mahara Mobile to version 1.2.1 or later. Additionally, rotate any passwords that may have been exposed in logs since the vulnerability was present, and review server access logs for indicators of compromise.
1.2.1
- 1. Verify current Mahara Mobile version by checking the application settings or app store listing
- 2. If running version 1.2.0 or earlier, initiate the upgrade process
- 3. Update Mahara Mobile to version 1.2.1 or later through the official application store (Google Play Store or Apple App Store)
- 4. After updating, verify that the application no longer logs sensitive credentials in plain text
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $2,800.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-1000171 — 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-2017-1000171 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