dbcve.org
Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-47942

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-05-21
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
The Open edX Platform is a learning management platform. Prior to commit 6740e75c0fdc7ba095baf88e9f5e4f3e15cfd8ba, edxapp has no built-in protection against downloading the python_lib.zip asset from courses, which is a concern since it often contains custom grading code or answers to course problems. This potentially affects any course using custom Python-graded problem blocks. The openedx/configuration repo has had a patch since 2016 in the form of an nginx rule, but this was only intended as a temporary mitigation. As the configuration repo has been deprecated and we have not been able to locate any similar protection in Tutor, it is likely that most deployments have no protection against python_lib.zip being downloaded. The recommended mitigation, implemented in commit 6740e75c0fdc7ba095baf88e9f5e4f3e15cfd8ba, restricts python_lib.zip downloads to just the course team and site staff/superusers.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-862

The application checks who you are but not whether you're allowed to perform a given action, so any authenticated user can reach things meant for others. This is the classic “change the ID in the URL” bug. The fix is an authorization check on every request, evaluated against the acting user's permissions.

General guidance for the missing authorization class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch github.com →
Recommended fix Moderate confidence

Upgrade to a version of edx-platform that includes commit 6740e75c0fdc7ba095baf88e9f5e4f3e15cfd8ba (or subsequent releases)

  1. 1. Identify the current version of edx-platform in your deployment by checking the git commit hash or release tag
  2. 2. Verify if your current version is prior to commit 6740e75c0fdc7ba095baf88e9f5e4f3e15cfd8ba
  3. 3. If using a deployments method (Tutor, Ansible, etc.), consult your deployment documentation for the recommended upgrade process
  4. 4. Apply the fix by upgrading to a version that includes commit 6740e75c0fdc7ba095baf88e9f5e4f3e15cfd8ba, or cherry-pick that commit if staying on your current branch
  5. 5. After applying the fix, verify that python_lib.zip downloads are restricted by testing with a non-privileged user account
  6. 6. Confirm that course team members and site staff/superusers can still access python_lib.zip as expected

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

We can apply and verify the patch for your build — typical engagement from $1,600. Get the patch applied

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-47942 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2025-47942 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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