CVE-2023-34962 in LMS
Summary
by MITRE • 06/08/2023
Incorrect access control in Chamilo v1.11.x up to v1.11.18 allows a student to arbitrarily access and modify another student's personal notes.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 01/10/2026
The vulnerability identified as CVE-2023-34962 represents a critical access control flaw within the Chamilo learning management system version 1.11.x up to 1.11.18. This issue stems from improper authorization checks within the system's personal notes functionality, creating a scenario where users with lower privileges can exploit the system to gain unauthorized access to sensitive data belonging to other users. The vulnerability specifically affects student accounts, allowing them to manipulate personal notes that should be restricted to individual ownership, thereby violating fundamental security principles of data isolation and access control.
This access control failure manifests through inadequate input validation and insufficient session management within the personal notes module. The system fails to properly verify user permissions when accessing or modifying notes, creating a path for privilege escalation where a student can craft requests to access or modify another student's notes without proper authentication or authorization. The flaw operates at the application layer, specifically targeting the user interface components responsible for handling personal note data, and can be exploited through direct manipulation of web requests or by leveraging session tokens from compromised accounts.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple data exposure, as it enables potential data modification attacks that can compromise the integrity of personal academic records. Students could alter, delete, or manipulate notes created by their peers, potentially affecting academic performance assessments, personal reflections, or confidential communications between students and instructors. This vulnerability undermines the trust model within the educational platform and could be exploited to disrupt academic processes or create false academic records that might influence grading or administrative decisions. The risk is particularly elevated in educational environments where personal notes often contain sensitive information about student progress, personal reflections, or confidential academic discussions.
Mitigation strategies for this vulnerability should focus on implementing robust access control mechanisms through proper input validation, session management, and authorization checks. The system must enforce strict user identification and permission verification before allowing access to personal notes, ensuring that each user can only access their own data through properly authenticated requests. Security patches should address the root cause by implementing proper role-based access controls and ensuring that all data access operations include comprehensive authorization verification. Organizations should also implement monitoring and logging of access attempts to personal notes to detect potential exploitation attempts, while following established security frameworks such as those outlined in the CWE catalog for access control vulnerabilities. The remediation process should include thorough code review to identify similar access control patterns throughout the application, as well as adherence to ATT&CK framework principles for preventing privilege escalation attacks through improper access control mechanisms.