MaharaApplication

CVE-2025-29992

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 24.04.9 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
Mahara before 24.04.9 exposes database connection information if the database becomes unreachable, e.g., due to the database server being temporarily down or too busy.

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

Mahara before version 24.04.9 contains an information disclosure vulnerability where database connection credentials (usernames, passwords, hostnames) are exposed in error messages when the database becomes unreachable due to server downtime or overload.

MitigationUpgrade to Mahara 24.04.9 or later to receive the patch. Until upgrade is possible, ensure database servers remain available and monitor for leaked credentials in application logs.

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
MaharaApplication
Affected:< 24.04.9

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
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/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. Determine installed Mahara version
    Check the version.php file in the Mahara root directory (htdocs/version.php) or look at the admin interface dashboard for the version number
    Affected if The installed version is lower than 24.04.9 (e.g., 24.04.8, 24.04.0, older releases)
  2. Verify error logging is enabled
    Check the config.php file (htdocs/config.php) for $cfg->loglevels or verify debug mode settings. Also check if error_log or syslog is configured in PHP and Mahara
    Affected if Debug mode or detailed error logging is enabled, which would allow credential-containing error messages to be written to logs
  3. Inspect application error logs for leaked credentials
    Examine Mahara error log files (typically in data/log/ directory) and PHP error logs for entries containing database connection failures. Search for patterns like 'database', 'connection', 'failed', 'username', 'password'
    Affected if Any database error logs exist that contain raw database usernames, passwords, or hostnames in plain text
  4. Verify database connectivity is stable
    Test database connection using Mahara's built-in diagnostics or by attempting to access the site. Check database server status and network connectivity between web and database servers
    Affected if The database server becomes unreachable or experiences connectivity issues, triggering the vulnerable error handling code

A user is affected if Mahara version is below 24.04.9 and the application has logged database connection errors containing plaintext credentials, or if the database is prone to connectivity issues where such exposure could occur.

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 24.04.9 or later
Fixed in 24.04.9
Interim mitigation

Upgrade to Mahara 24.04.9 or later to receive the patch. Until upgrade is possible, ensure database servers remain available and monitor for leaked credentials in application logs.

Recommended fix Moderate confidence

24.04.9

  1. Upgrade Mahara to version 24.04.9 or later

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

Fix this in Mahara Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
21.0 hours of engineering $3,680
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2025-29992 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