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MoodleCMS

CVE-2024-34009

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-05-31
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.3.4 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
Insufficient checks whether ReCAPTCHA was enabled made it possible to bypass the checks on the login page. This did not affect other pages where ReCAPTCHA is utilized.

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

The vulnerability stems from insufficient server-side validation that checks whether ReCAPTCHA is enabled on the login page. Attackers could bypass the CAPTCHA protection entirely due to missing or inadequate enablement checks, allowing automated attacks like brute force or credential stuffing without facing CAPTCHA challenges.

MitigationEnsure ReCAPTCHA enablement is validated server-side before processing login submissions, and implement configuration checks that cannot be bypassed by manipulating client-side parameters.

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
Affected:>= 4.3.0, < 4.3.4

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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 checks

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

  1. Check Moodle version
    Navigate to Site administration > Server > Environment or inspect the version.php file in the Moodle root directory to determine the installed version number
    Affected if Version is 4.3.0, 4.3.1, 4.3.2, or 4.3.3 (any version >=4.3.0 and <4.3.4)
  2. Verify ReCAPTCHA plugin status
    Navigate to Site administration > Plugins > Authentication > Manage authentication and check if the ReCAPTCHA plugin is installed and enabled
    Affected if ReCAPTCHA plugin is enabled on the site
  3. Check ReCAPTCHA site key configuration
    Navigate to Site administration > Plugins > Authentication > ReCAPTCHA test page or inspect the site key settings in the authentication settings to confirm valid ReCAPTCHA keys are configured
    Affected if Valid ReCAPTCHA site keys are configured (the vulnerable code path requires ReCAPTCHA to be functionally configured)
  4. Inspect login form for CAPTCHA element
    View the source of the Moodle login page (usually at /login/index.php) and check whether the recaptcha element is present in the HTML form
    Affected if ReCAPTCHA appears to be rendered in the login form but server-side validation of its enablement status is missing

If running Moodle 4.3.0 through 4.3.3 and ReCAPTCHA is enabled or configured on the login page, the server-side validation bypass vulnerability is present.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 4.3.4 or later
Fixed in 4.3.4
Interim mitigation

Ensure ReCAPTCHA enablement is validated server-side before processing login submissions, and implement configuration checks that cannot be bypassed by manipulating client-side parameters.

Recommended fix High confidence

Moodle 4.3.4

  1. Back up your existing Moodle installation directory and database before starting the upgrade
  2. Download Moodle 4.3.4 from the official Moodle repository (download.moodle.org)
  3. Replace the existing Moodle files with the new 4.3.4 files, preserving your config.php and any custom themes or plugins
  4. Run the Moodle upgrade CLI command: php admin/cli/upgrade.php
  5. Clear the Moodle caches after upgrade completes: php admin/cli/purge_caches.php
  6. Verify that ReCAPTCHA is properly configured in Site Administration > Plugins > Authentication > Manage Authentication
  7. Test the login page to confirm ReCAPTCHA validation is now properly enforced
Caveat Standard Moodle minor version upgrade - review release notes for any deprecated features or configuration changes

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Moodle Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.

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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-2024-34009 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