CVE-2025-3640 in Moodle
Summary
by MITRE • 04/25/2025
A flaw was found in Moodle. Insufficient capability checks made it possible for a user enrolled in a course to access some details, such as the full name and profile image URL, of other users they did not have permission to access.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 06/24/2025
This vulnerability exists within the Moodle learning management system where inadequate access control mechanisms fail to properly validate user permissions when retrieving user profile information. The flaw allows authenticated users to bypass expected authorization boundaries and obtain sensitive personal data from other users within the same course environment. This represents a significant privacy and security concern as it enables unauthorized information disclosure that violates fundamental principles of data protection and user privacy. The vulnerability specifically affects the user profile retrieval functionality where the system does not adequately verify whether the requesting user has proper permissions to view the target user's full name and profile image URL.
The technical implementation of this vulnerability stems from insufficient capability checks within the Moodle user management and profile display components. When a user requests access to another user's profile information, the system fails to properly validate that the requesting user possesses the necessary permissions to access such data. This weakness creates an access control bypass scenario where users can enumerate and retrieve profile details of other users without proper authorization. The vulnerability manifests in the core user authentication and authorization framework where capability checks are either missing or improperly implemented, allowing privilege escalation through profile data access. This flaw directly relates to CWE-284 which describes improper access control vulnerabilities in software systems.
The operational impact of this vulnerability extends beyond simple information disclosure to potentially enable more sophisticated attacks such as social engineering, credential harvesting, or targeted phishing campaigns. Attackers can leverage this vulnerability to gather detailed personal information about users including full names and profile images which can be used to craft convincing social engineering attacks or to identify specific targets for further exploitation. The vulnerability affects all users enrolled in courses where the flaw exists, potentially exposing hundreds or thousands of user profiles depending on the size of the course. This creates a significant risk for organizations that rely on Moodle for educational or corporate training purposes where user privacy and data protection are paramount.
Organizations should immediately implement mitigations including updating to the patched version of Moodle where access control checks have been properly enforced. System administrators should review and verify the current access control configurations to ensure that proper capability checks are in place for user profile retrieval functions. Additional monitoring should be implemented to detect unusual profile access patterns that might indicate exploitation attempts. The vulnerability demonstrates the critical importance of proper access control implementation in web applications and aligns with ATT&CK technique T1213 which covers data from information repositories. Security teams should conduct comprehensive penetration testing to identify similar access control vulnerabilities across other components of the Moodle platform and implement defense-in-depth strategies to prevent unauthorized access to user data.