CVE-2022-42707 in Mahara
Summary
by MITRE • 11/06/2022
In Mahara 21.04 before 21.04.7, 21.10 before 21.10.5, 22.04 before 22.04.3, and 22.10 before 22.10.0, embedded images are accessible without a sufficient permission check under certain conditions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 05/03/2025
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2022-42707 affects the Mahara learning management system across multiple versions including 21.04 before 21.04.7, 21.10 before 21.10.5, 22.04 before 22.04.3, and 22.10 before 22.10.0. This security flaw represents a critical access control weakness that allows unauthorized users to retrieve embedded images from the system without proper authentication or authorization. The vulnerability stems from insufficient permission validation mechanisms within the image handling functionality, creating a path for privilege escalation attacks where users can bypass expected security boundaries.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability resides in the image access control logic within Mahara's core architecture. When users upload or embed images within the learning management system, the application should enforce strict authorization checks to ensure that only authorized individuals can access these resources. However, in affected versions, the system fails to properly validate user permissions before serving embedded images, allowing attackers to craft requests that circumvent normal access controls. This flaw specifically impacts the content management and user access control subsystems, creating a persistent security gap that can be exploited by both authenticated and unauthenticated attackers depending on the system configuration.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure, as it can enable more sophisticated attacks within the Mahara environment. An attacker who successfully exploits this vulnerability can access sensitive educational content, user-generated materials, and potentially proprietary learning resources that should remain restricted to authorized participants. This weakness creates opportunities for information disclosure attacks that align with attack techniques described in the MITRE ATT&CK framework under the T1005 category for data from local system. The vulnerability also represents a violation of the principle of least privilege, as it allows unauthorized access to resources that should be protected by proper access controls.
Security professionals should implement immediate mitigations including applying the vendor-provided patches for all affected versions of Mahara, as well as implementing additional access control measures such as network segmentation and enhanced monitoring of image access patterns. The vulnerability's classification aligns with CWE-285, which addresses improper authorization in software systems, and represents a clear failure in the application's security architecture. Organizations should also conduct thorough access control reviews and implement proper logging mechanisms to detect unauthorized image access attempts. Additionally, the security team should consider implementing web application firewalls and content delivery network protections to further limit exposure to this type of access control bypass vulnerability.