CVE-2017-9551
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 15.04 before 15.04.14 and 16.04 before 16.04.8 and 16.10 before 16.10.5 and 17.04 before 17.04.3 are vulnerable to a user submitting potential dangerous payload, e.g. XSS code, to be saved as their name in the usr_registration table. The values are then emailed to the the user and administrator and if accepted become part of the new user's account.
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 contains a stored XSS vulnerability in the user registration functionality. An attacker can submit a malicious payload (e.g., JavaScript code) as their name in the usr_registration table. The unsanitized values are then included in emails sent to the user and administrator, and if the registration is accepted, the XSS payload becomes part of the new user's account.
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= 15.04= 15.04.0= 15.04.1= 15.04.2= 15.04.3= 15.04.4= 15.04.5= 15.04.6= 15.04.7= 15.04.8= 15.04.9= 15.04.10CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/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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Verify Mahara versionLog into the Mahara admin dashboard and navigate to Site Administration -> General -> Version, or check the version.php file in the htdocs folder. Compare the installed version to the affected range: 15.04.0 through 15.04.10Affected if The installed version is 15.04.x where x is 0-10 (any version from 15.04.0 to 15.04.10)
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Confirm user registration is enabledIn the Mahara admin dashboard, go to Site Administration -> Users -> Registration. Verify that user self-registration is turned on, or check the 'allowpublicviews' and related configuration settings in the database config tableAffected if User registration functionality is enabled on the site
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Inspect usr_registration table for suspicious contentRun a database query: SELECT id, firstname, lastname, email FROM usr_registration WHERE firstname OR lastname LIKE '%<script%' OR LIKE '%javascript:%' OR contains HTML tags such as <img, <iframe, <onload, or other XSS patternsAffected if Any rows in usr_registration contain unsanitized HTML or JavaScript in name fields (firstname or lastname)
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Examine user account display namesQuery the usr table for stored XSS: SELECT id, firstname, lastname, preferredname FROM usr WHERE firstname LIKE '%<script%' OR preferredname LIKE '%javascript:%' OR other fields contain raw HTMLAffected if Existing user accounts have unsanitized script tags or event handlers in display name fields
You are affected if Mahara version is 15.04.0-15.04.10 AND user registration is enabled AND malicious XSS payloads exist in the usr_registration or usr tables.
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 Mahara to version 15.04.14, 16.04.8, 16.10.5, 17.04.3 or later to obtain the patched release. Alternatively, implement server-side input validation and output encoding on the registration form name field.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-9551 — 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-2017-9551 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