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MoodleCMS

CVE-2025-67856

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-02-03
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 4.1.22 / 4.4.12 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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. An authorization logic flaw, specifically due to incomplete role checks during the badge awarding process, allowed badges to be granted without proper verification. This could enable unauthorized users to obtain badges they are not entitled to, potentially leading to privilege escalation or unauthorized access to certain features.

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

Moodle contains an authorization bypass vulnerability in its badge awarding functionality. The system fails to perform complete role validation when awarding badges, allowing users to receive badges they have not earned or are not entitled to based on their role permissions. This could enable privilege escalation within the learning management system.

MitigationImplement comprehensive role-based access control (RBAC) checks in the badge awarding workflow to verify that the awarding user has appropriate permissions and the recipient meets all eligibility criteria before badge issuance.

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:< 4.1.22>= 4.4.0, < 4.4.12>= 4.5.0, < 4.5.8>= 5.0.0, < 5.0.4= 5.1.0

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
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 or inspect the version.php file in the Moodle root directory to identify the exact version number
    Affected if The installed version falls within any of these ranges: < 4.1.22, >= 4.4.0 and < 4.4.12, >= 4.5.0 and < 4.5.8, >= 5.0.0 and < 5.0.4, or exactly 5.1.0
  2. Verify badge module is enabled
    Navigate to Site Administration > Plugins > Activity modules > Manage activities and confirm the Badge (core) or Badge awarding module is installed and enabled
    Affected if Badge functionality is enabled and the Moodle version is in the affected ranges listed above
  3. Review badge awarding role permissions
    Navigate to Site Administration > Users > Permissions > Define roles and examine permissions for roles that can award badges, specifically checking 'moodle/badge:award' capability assignments
    Affected if Users with elevated badge awarding permissions exist and the Moodle version is vulnerable
  4. Audit recent badge issuance logs
    Access Site Administration > Reports > Logs and filter for badge-related events such as 'badge awarded' to identify any unexpected or unauthorized badge awards
    Affected if Badge awards are present in logs and the Moodle version is in the affected version ranges

A user is affected if their Moodle installation version falls within the vulnerable ranges (< 4.1.22, 4.4.0-4.4.11, 4.5.0-4.5.7, 5.0.0-5.0.3, or 5.1.0) AND the badge awarding functionality is enabled and in use.

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 4.1.22 / 4.4.12 / 4.5.8 or later
Fixed in 4.1.224.4.124.5.8
Interim mitigation

Implement comprehensive role-based access control (RBAC) checks in the badge awarding workflow to verify that the awarding user has appropriate permissions and the recipient meets all eligibility criteria before badge issuance.

Recommended fix High confidence

Moodle 4.1.22, 4.4.12, 4.5.8, or 5.0.4 (depending on your current branch)

  1. Backup the Moodle database and entire installation directory before proceeding
  2. Test the upgrade in a non-production environment first
  3. Ensure PHP and database requirements are met for the target version
  4. Upgrade to the appropriate fixed version based on your current branch: 4.1.22, 4.4.12, 4.5.8, or 5.0.4
  5. After upgrading, clear all Moodle caches via Site Administration > Development > Purge caches, or via command line: php admin/cli/purge_caches.php
  6. Verify the badge awarding functionality works correctly with proper role enforcement
  7. Confirm the upgrade was successful by checking the Moodle version number in Site Administration > Server > Environment
Caveat Major version upgrades (e.g., 4.x to 5.x) may require database schema changes and plugin compatibility review; test thoroughly before production deployment

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

Fix this in Moodle 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
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,888.

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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-2025-67856 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