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MoodleCMS

CVE-2024-43439

MEDIUM · 6.1 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 →
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
A flaw was found in moodle. H5P error messages require additional sanitizing to prevent a reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) risk.

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

A reflected cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability exists in Moodle's H5P component where error messages are not properly sanitized before being displayed to users. An attacker could craft malicious input through H5P content that triggers an error containing embedded JavaScript or HTML, which would then execute in the victim's browser.

MitigationImplement proper output encoding/sanitization for all H5P error messages using context-appropriate escaping functions (e.g., htmlspecialchars for HTML context). Validate and sanitize all user-supplied input before including it in error responses.

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
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. Identify installed Moodle version
    Access Moodle's admin panel and navigate to Site administration > Server > Environment, or check the version.php file in the Moodle root directory (look for $version variable). Alternatively, check the footer of any Moodle page for the version number.
    Affected if The installed version falls into any of these ranges: < 4.1.12, >= 4.2.0 and < 4.2.9, >= 4.3.0 and < 4.3.6, or >= 4.4.0 and < 4.4.2
  2. Confirm H5P component is enabled
    Navigate to Site administration > Plugins > Install plugins, or check the 'h5p' directory exists within Moodle's mod/ or lib/ directories. You can also check if H5P content types appear in the content bank or course editor.
    Affected if H5P is actively enabled and users can upload or interact with H5P content
  3. Locate H5P error handling code
    Search for H5P-related PHP files that handle error messages, typically in /lib/h5p/ or /mod/hvp/ directories. Look for files containing 'result' or 'error' in their names, particularly h5p_get_content_result.php or similar endpoint files.
    Affected if The codebase contains H5P components that generate error messages without proper sanitization (inspect for missing htmlspecialchars or equivalent escaping when outputting error data)

You are affected if your Moodle version is within any of the vulnerable ranges listed AND the H5P component is enabled, as the XSS flaw only manifests when H5P error messages are generated and displayed to users.

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

Implement proper output encoding/sanitization for all H5P error messages using context-appropriate escaping functions (e.g., htmlspecialchars for HTML context). Validate and sanitize all user-supplied input before including it in error responses.

Recommended fix High confidence

Upgrade to the latest version in your current branch: 4.1.12, 4.2.9, 4.3.6, or 4.4.2

  1. 1. Back up your Moodle database and the entire moodledata directory before proceeding
  2. 2. Download the appropriate fixed version for your branch: 4.1.12, 4.2.9, 4.3.6, or 4.4.2
  3. 3. Place your site into maintenance mode via Site administration > Server > Maintenance mode
  4. 4. Replace the Moodle code directory with the new version files, preserving your config.php and any custom modifications
  5. 5. Clear the cache by deleting contents of moodledata/cache and moodledata/localcache
  6. 6. Navigate to your site's admin URL (e.g., /admin/) to run database upgrades, or run php admin/cli/upgrade.php
  7. 7. Verify the upgrade completed successfully and exit maintenance mode
Caveat Minor version upgrades within a branch (e.g., 4.4.0 to 4.4.2) typically have no breaking changes; cross-branch upgrades (e.g., 4.1 to 4.4) may require testing for compatibility with custom plugins

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

Fix this in Moodle Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,780
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,848.

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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-2024-43439 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