CVE-2014-0217 in Moodle
Summary
by MITRE
enrol/index.php in Moodle 2.6.x before 2.6.3 does not check for the moodle/course:viewhiddencourses capability before listing hidden courses, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive name and summary information about these courses by leveraging the guest role and visiting a crafted URL.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/26/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2014-0217 affects Moodle version 2.6.x before 2.6.3 and represents a critical access control flaw that undermines the security of course visibility settings within the learning management system. This issue stems from inadequate capability checks in the enrol/index.php script, which fails to verify whether users possess the appropriate permissions to view hidden courses. The vulnerability specifically targets the moodle/course:viewhiddencourses capability, which should normally be restricted to authorized users with legitimate need to access concealed course content. Attackers exploiting this flaw can leverage guest role privileges to craft malicious URLs that bypass normal access controls and retrieve sensitive information about hidden courses.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability demonstrates a classic insufficient authorization check pattern that aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization in software systems. The flaw occurs because the enrol/index.php script does not perform capability validation before displaying course listings, allowing unauthenticated or unauthorized users to access course metadata that should remain hidden from public view. When users with guest roles navigate to specifically crafted URLs, the system returns course names and summaries without proper access verification, creating a data exposure scenario that violates fundamental security principles of least privilege and principle of least authority. This vulnerability essentially creates a backdoor mechanism that circumvents Moodle's intended course visibility controls.
The operational impact of CVE-2014-0217 extends beyond simple information disclosure, as it enables attackers to gather intelligence about organizational course structures and content without proper authorization. This reconnaissance capability can be leveraged by threat actors to identify potential targets for more sophisticated attacks, understand institutional educational offerings, and plan social engineering campaigns against specific departments or academic programs. The vulnerability affects institutions that rely on hidden courses for sensitive content such as exam preparation materials, confidential research projects, or specialized training programs that should remain private from general access. From an attacker's perspective, this flaw provides a low-effort method to enumerate course information that could be used for credential stuffing attacks against legitimate users or to identify high-value targets within the educational environment.
Security professionals should note that this vulnerability aligns with ATT&CK technique T1069.001 for "Permission Groups Discovery" and T1087.001 for "Account Discovery" as attackers can use the information gathered to understand system access controls and identify potential targets for further exploitation. The remediation strategy involves implementing proper capability checks in the enrol/index.php script to ensure that only users with the appropriate moodle/course:viewhiddencourses permission can access hidden course listings. Organizations should immediately upgrade to Moodle 2.6.3 or later versions where this vulnerability has been patched, and conduct comprehensive security audits of their course visibility settings to ensure that no unauthorized access paths exist. Additionally, implementing network monitoring to detect unusual access patterns to course enrollment pages can help identify potential exploitation attempts and provide early warning of security incidents. The vulnerability underscores the importance of proper access control implementation and the necessity of validating all user permissions before exposing sensitive system information.