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Saml AuthenticationMoodle extension · Moodle

CVE-2022-39183

MEDIUM · 6.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2023-01-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
68/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 · unedited
Moodle Plugin - SAML Auth may allow Open Redirect through unspecified vectors.

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 · moderate confidence

Open redirect vulnerability in the Moodle SAML Authentication plugin allows attackers to craft URLs that appear to originate from the legitimate Moodle site but redirect users to attacker-controlled domains. The vulnerability stems from insufficient validation of redirect parameters in the SAML Auth plugin.

MitigationApply the vendor-provided security patch for the SAML Auth plugin. Until patched, implement URL validation whitelisting for any redirect functionality and warn users to verify URLs before clicking.

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
Saml AuthenticationMoodle extension
Affected:all versions

CVSS 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:3.1/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm SAML Authentication plugin is enabled
    Log into Moodle as administrator, navigate to Site Administration > Plugins > Authentication > Manage authentication, and check if SAML Authentication plugin is listed and enabled
    Affected if SAML Authentication plugin is enabled and the redirect parameter validation is not in place
  2. Identify the installed SAML plugin version
    Navigate to Site Administration > Plugins > Authentication > SAML Authentication, or check the version field in the plugin's version.php file within the Moodle directory structure under auth/saml/
    Affected if Any version is installed since all versions are affected according to the advisory
  3. Check for redirect functionality in SAML configuration
    Examine the SAML plugin settings page for any redirect URL, RelayState, or login redirect configuration options that accept user-supplied values
    Affected if Redirect parameters accept unvalidated URLs or allow external domains
  4. Inspect SAML plugin code for redirect validation
    Review the SAML plugin's authentication handler files (typically in auth/saml/) for functions processing redirect parameters, specifically looking for code that handles destination or redirect URLs without strict allowlist validation
    Affected if The code lacks proper URL validation or allowlisting for redirect destinations
  5. Test for open redirect behavior
    If the SAML login page or related endpoints accept a redirect parameter (such as ?redirect= or ?wantsurl=), attempt to provide an external domain URL and verify if Moodle permits the redirect without warning or blocking
    Affected if The system redirects to the provided external URL without validation or user warning

If the SAML Authentication plugin is enabled and the redirect parameter handling lacks proper URL validation or allowlisting, the environment is vulnerable to CVE-2022-39183.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor-provided security patch for the SAML Auth plugin. Until patched, implement URL validation whitelisting for any redirect functionality and warn users to verify URLs before clicking.

Fix this in Saml Authentication Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-39183 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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