CVE-2019-3849: Moodle/moodle Moodle Users Could Elevate Their Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-5wg9-5w3f-hxmh
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CVSS 8.8
CWE-269
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2019-3849 is a HIGH (CVSS 8.8) moodle users could elevate their vulnerability (CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management) affecting Moodle/moodle libraries in the Packagist ecosystem. The issue involves moodle users could elevate their role when accessing the lti tool on a provider site. Remediation is available by upgrading affected packages to version 3.4.8, 3.5.5, 3.6.3.

CVE-2019-3849 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2019-3849
GHSA Identifier GHSA-5wg9-5w3f-hxmh
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 8.8
CWE Classification CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management
Affected Product Moodle/moodle
Package Ecosystem Packagist
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 8.8

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required Low (PR:L)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity High (I:H)
Availability High (A:H)

How to Fix CVE-2019-3849

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Moodle/moodle dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

moodle/moodle fixed: 3.4.8 
Upgrade moodle/moodle to 3.4.8
moodle/moodle fixed: 3.5.5 
Upgrade moodle/moodle to 3.5.5
moodle/moodle fixed: 3.6.3 
Upgrade moodle/moodle to 3.6.3
Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

inspect dependencies for moodle/moodle

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your application is affected by CVE-2019-3849, inspect your project dependencies for Moodle/moodle:

inspect dependencies for moodle/moodle

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Moodle/moodle in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than 3.4.8), your application is affected.

Note: Verify declared build manifests and deployed runtime container environments.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management, where the product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor. In Moodle/moodle, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

A vulnerability was found in moodle before versions 3.6.3, 3.5.5 and 3.4.8. Users could assign themselves an escalated role within courses or content accessed via LTI, by modifying the request to the LTI publisher site.

CVE-2019-3849 Affected Moodle/moodle Versions

3 component(s)
Fixed Versions:
3.4.83.5.53.6.3
Product / Package Ecosystem Affected Versions Fixed Version
moodle/moodle
 Packagist
< 3.4.8
3.4.8
moodle/moodle
 Packagist
≥ 3.5
< 3.5.5
3.5.5
moodle/moodle
 Packagist
≥ 3.6
< 3.6.3
3.6.3

References

NVD — CVE-2019-3849 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-3849
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/427463a52574e4b3bcbe1c65c49066438770641e
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/430f685834cef190bdf58afabe79e765d596890d
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/723d1a747555b795ed53a0fad01da455797bb78f
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/898d5d05a0c3ae6795db0241bf3cb5951213d45c
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/b77dcd23d8e39265b5c096f0d947764c02d832c8
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/cd3060d941a051931eb2613b25bafb0108665895
Security Fix Commit FIX COMMIT
https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/fba7dcd90abd45210d782a79c6e25bb3840c7438
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi WEB
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-3849
Moodle/moodle Source Repository REPOSITORY
https://github.com/moodle/moodle
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.p... WEB
https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=384012#p1547744

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2019-3849?
CVE-2019-3849 is a security vulnerability in Moodle/moodle involving Moodle Users could elevate their role when accessing the LTI tool on a provider site under CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management.
Which Moodle/moodle versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to 3.4.8, 3.5.5, 3.6.3 across affected packages: moodle/moodle.
What version fixes CVE-2019-3849?
Upgrading to 3.4.8, 3.5.5, 3.6.3 (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
Is moodle/moodle affected?
Yes, moodle/moodle is affected in releases prior to 3.4.8, 3.5.5, 3.6.3. Upgrade your dependency to 3.4.8, 3.5.5, 3.6.3 or later.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2019-3849?
CVE-2019-3849 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.8 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2019-3849?
CVE-2019-3849 is classified under CWE-269: Improper Privilege Management (The product does not properly assign, modify, track, or check privileges for an actor, creating an unintended sphere of control for that actor.).
How can I check Packagist dependencies for CVE-2019-3849?
Run the dependency tree command: 'inspect dependencies for moodle/moodle'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-5wg9-5w3f-hxmh",
  "modified" : "2024-01-26T18:20:17Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-13T01:14:32Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2019-3849" ],
  "summary" : "Moodle Users could elevate their role when accessing the LTI tool on a provider site",
  "details" : "A vulnerability was found in moodle before versions 3.6.3, 3.5.5 and 3.4.8. Users could assign themselves an escalated role within courses or content accessed via LTI, by modifying the request to the LTI publisher site.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Packagist",
      "name" : "moodle/moodle"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "0"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.4.8"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Packagist",
      "name" : "moodle/moodle"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "3.5"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.5.5"
      } ]
    } ]
  }, {
    "package" : {
      "ecosystem" : "Packagist",
      "name" : "moodle/moodle"
    },
    "ranges" : [ {
      "type" : "ECOSYSTEM",
      "events" : [ {
        "introduced" : "3.6"
      }, {
        "fixed" : "3.6.3"
      } ]
    } ]
  } ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2019-3849"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/427463a52574e4b3bcbe1c65c49066438770641e"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/430f685834cef190bdf58afabe79e765d596890d"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/723d1a747555b795ed53a0fad01da455797bb78f"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/898d5d05a0c3ae6795db0241bf3cb5951213d45c"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/b77dcd23d8e39265b5c096f0d947764c02d832c8"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/cd3060d941a051931eb2613b25bafb0108665895"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/fba7dcd90abd45210d782a79c6e25bb3840c7438"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-3849"
  }, {
    "type" : "PACKAGE",
    "url" : "https://github.com/moodle/moodle"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=384012#p1547744"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-269" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : true,
    "github_reviewed_at" : "2024-01-26T18:20:17Z",
    "nvd_published_at" : "2019-03-26T18:29:00Z"
  }
}