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MoodleCMS

CVE-2024-43429

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2024-11-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.1.12 / 4.2.9 or later.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
A flaw was found in moodle. Some hidden user profile fields are visible in gradebook reports, which could result in users without the "view hidden user fields" capability having access to the information.

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

In Moodle's gradebook, hidden user profile fields are incorrectly displayed in reports to users who lack the 'view hidden user fields' capability. This allows unauthorized users to access sensitive profile information that should be hidden from them.

MitigationApply the Moodle security patch to enforce proper capability checks when rendering user profile fields in gradebook reports, ensuring hidden fields are only visible to users with the appropriate permissions.

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:< 4.1.12>= 4.2.0, < 4.2.9>= 4.3.0, < 4.3.6>= 4.4.0, < 4.4.2

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
Low
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/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 installed Moodle version
    Navigate to Site Administration > Server > Environment page, or inspect the version.php file in the Moodle root directory to find the $release or $version variable
    Affected if The installed version is < 4.1.12, or between 4.2.0 and 4.2.8 inclusive, or between 4.3.0 and 4.3.5 inclusive, or between 4.4.0 and 4.4.1 inclusive
  2. Identify hidden user profile fields
    Go to Site Administration > Users > User profile fields and review all custom profile fields. Check the 'Visibility' setting for each field - fields set to 'Hidden' or 'Show visible only to role' are relevant
    Affected if There exist user profile fields with visibility set to Hidden or restricted in a way that should prevent general access
  3. Verify gradebook access for non-privileged users
    Confirm that users without the 'moodle/user:viewhiddenfields' capability have access to gradebook reports. Check this by examining role definitions at Site Administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles, specifically looking at roles assigned to typical users who access gradebook reports
    Affected if Users lacking the 'view hidden user fields' capability can nonetheless view gradebook reports containing user profile information
  4. Inspect rendered gradebook output for hidden field exposure
    Log in as a user without the 'moodle/user:viewhiddenfields' capability, navigate to a course gradebook report, and examine whether any hidden user profile fields are displayed in the user identity columns or user profile section
    Affected if Hidden user profile fields appear in the gradebook output for users who should not see them

A user is affected if their Moodle version falls within the vulnerable ranges AND hidden user profile fields exist AND users without the view hidden user fields capability can access gradebook reports that expose those hidden fields.

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 4.1.12 / 4.2.9 / 4.3.6 or later
Fixed in 4.1.124.2.94.3.6
Interim mitigation

Apply the Moodle security patch to enforce proper capability checks when rendering user profile fields in gradebook reports, ensuring hidden fields are only visible to users with the appropriate permissions.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to Moodle 4.1.12, 4.2.9, 4.3.6, or 4.4.2 (or later releases in each respective branch)

  1. Backup your Moodle database and fileroot directory before upgrading.
  2. Download the appropriate fixed Moodle release (4.1.12, 4.2.9, 4.3.6, or 4.4.2 or later) from moodle.org.
  3. Replace the existing Moodle codebase with the new version files.
  4. Run the Moodle upgrade process via command line (php admin/cli/upgrade.php) or through the web interface.
  5. Verify that the hidden user profile fields are now properly protected in gradebook reports.
  6. Confirm users without 'view hidden user fields' capability can no longer see hidden fields in gradebook.
Caveat Moodle minor version upgrades typically have minimal breaking changes, but review the release notes for any deprecated features or required database changes before upgrading.

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
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,224.

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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-2024-43429 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