CVE-2017-1000155 in Mahara
Summary
by MITRE
Mahara 15.04 before 15.04.8 and 15.10 before 15.10.4 and 16.04 before 16.04.2 are vulnerable to profile pictures being accessed without any access control checks consequently allowing any of a user's uploaded profile pictures to be viewable by anyone, whether or not they were currently selected as the "default" or used in any pages.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 12/04/2019
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2017-1000155 affects the Mahara learning management system version 15.04 before 15.04.8, 15.10 before 15.10.4, and 16.04 before 16.04.2, representing a critical access control flaw that undermines user privacy and data protection mechanisms. This vulnerability stems from insufficient authorization checks within the profile picture handling functionality, creating a scenario where any authenticated or unauthenticated user can access profile images uploaded by other users. The flaw exists in the application's permission model, specifically in how it validates user access rights when serving profile picture content, allowing for unauthorized data exposure that violates fundamental security principles of data confidentiality and user privacy.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability occurs at the application layer where profile picture retrieval requests bypass proper access control validation mechanisms. When a user uploads a profile picture, the system stores this content but fails to enforce appropriate access controls during subsequent retrieval operations. This weakness falls under the CWE-285 category of Improper Authorization, which specifically addresses situations where applications fail to properly verify that users have the necessary permissions to access specific resources. The vulnerability essentially creates a path traversal scenario where any user can access profile pictures through predictable URL patterns or direct requests without proper authentication or authorization verification, making it a straightforward exploitation vector that requires no advanced technical skills.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple privacy concerns to encompass potential data leakage, user embarrassment, and possible social engineering opportunities. Since profile pictures often contain personal information, facial features, or contextual details that could be used to identify individuals, unauthorized access to these images represents a significant privacy risk. Attackers could potentially harvest profile pictures from multiple users to build comprehensive identity profiles, which could then be used for social engineering attacks, identity theft, or targeted phishing campaigns. This vulnerability directly conflicts with the principle of least privilege and violates security standards established by frameworks such as the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, which emphasizes the protection of sensitive user data and the implementation of proper access controls.
Organizations using affected versions of Mahara should immediately implement the available patches and updates provided by the vendor to address this vulnerability. The recommended mitigation involves upgrading to Mahara version 15.04.8, 15.10.4, or 16.04.2, which contain proper access control checks for profile picture retrieval. Additionally, system administrators should conduct thorough security reviews of other file handling mechanisms within the application to identify similar authorization flaws that might exist elsewhere in the codebase. From an ATT&CK framework perspective, this vulnerability maps to T1005 - Data from Local System and T1046 - Network Service Scanning, as it allows for unauthorized data extraction from the system and potential reconnaissance activities. Organizations should also consider implementing additional monitoring controls to detect unusual access patterns to profile picture resources and establish proper logging mechanisms that can track access attempts to sensitive user content.