CVE-2026-86279 in Syllabus-Aligned Learning Management & Examination System
Summary
by MITRE • 09/07/2026
A vulnerability was determined in SourceCodester Syllabus-Aligned Learning Management & Examination System 1.0. The impacted element is an unknown function of the file auth_process.php of the component Login. This manipulation causes session fixiation. It is possible to initiate the attack remotely. The exploit has been publicly disclosed and may be utilized.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 09/07/2026
The SourceCodester Syllabus-Aligned Learning Management & Examination System version 1.0 contains a critical security flaw within its authentication mechanism, specifically located in the auth_process.php file which handles user login operations. This vulnerability manifests as session fixation, a type of attack where an attacker sets or fixes a victim's session identifier before the victim authenticates themselves to the application. In this specific implementation, the system fails to regenerate the session ID upon successful authentication, allowing an adversary who has previously obtained or predicted a valid session token to maintain access even after the user logs in with their credentials. This flaw undermines the fundamental security principle that session identifiers must be unique and unpredictable for each authenticated session, thereby compromising the integrity of the identity verification process within the learning management system.
From a technical perspective, this vulnerability aligns closely with CWE-384, which describes Session Fixation as an attack where an attacker sets or influences a victim's session ID to gain unauthorized access. The operational impact is severe because it allows for remote exploitation without requiring any prior authentication from the attacker. By initiating the attack remotely, an adversary can trick a legitimate user into using a predetermined session cookie or URL parameter. Once the user logs in with their valid username and password, they inadvertently adopt the attacker's pre-established session ID. Consequently, the attacker retains control over that specific session identifier and can subsequently use it to impersonate the victim, gaining full access to their account within the examination system. This could lead to unauthorized viewing of exam questions, manipulation of grades, or theft of personal student data depending on the permissions associated with the compromised account.
The presence of a publicly disclosed exploit significantly elevates the risk profile of this vulnerability, as it lowers the barrier for entry for less sophisticated threat actors who may not possess deep knowledge of session management flaws but can leverage existing tools to compromise systems running this specific version of the software. The attack vector is classified under Remote Code Execution or Authentication Bypass contexts within broader frameworks, though more specifically it maps to MITRE ATT&CK technique T1078, Valid Accounts, where attackers use legitimate credentials obtained through session hijacking rather than brute force or credential stuffing. This method bypasses traditional password-based security controls entirely by exploiting the state management layer of the web application.
To mitigate this vulnerability, immediate remediation is required at both the code level and infrastructure configuration levels. The primary fix involves implementing proper session regeneration practices within the auth_process.php file. Specifically, upon successful authentication, the system must destroy the old session ID and generate a new one using cryptographically secure random number generators to ensure unpredictability. Additionally, developers should implement HttpOnly flags on cookies to prevent client-side script access, which reduces the risk of cross-site scripting attacks that often accompany session fixation attempts. Setting Secure flags ensures sessions are only transmitted over encrypted HTTPS connections, protecting against network-level interception. Furthermore, implementing SameSite cookie attributes can help mitigate certain types of cross-site request forgery and session hijacking vectors by restricting how cookies are sent with cross-origin requests. Regular security audits and penetration testing focusing on authentication flows are recommended to ensure no similar flaws exist in other components of the learning management system.