GHSA-qfh6-h7j6-fvjv BIT-moodle-2025-67851 CVE-2025-67851
Moodle formula injection vulnerability
- Severity
- 6.1 / 10
- High · CVSS 3.1
- Exploit chance (EPSS)
- 0.29%
- Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days. Higher than 21.16% of scored vulnerabilities.
- Known exploited
- No
- Not in CISA's catalog
- Weakness
- CWE-1236 Improper Neutralization of Formula Elements in a CSV File
- Fix
4.1.22- Upgrade moodle/moodle to this version or later
Description
A flaw was found in Moodle. This formula injection vulnerability occurs when data fields are exported without proper escaping. A remote attacker could exploit this by providing malicious data that, when exported and opened in a spreadsheet, allows arbitrary formulas to execute. This can lead to compromised data integrity and unintended operations within the spreadsheet.
Affected versions
Packagist
| Package | Vulnerable | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
| moodle/moodle | < 4.1.22 |
4.1.22 |
| moodle/moodle | >= 4.4.0-beta, < 4.4.12 |
4.4.12 |
| moodle/moodle | >= 4.5.0-beta, < 4.5.8 |
4.5.8 |
| moodle/moodle | >= 5.0.0-beta, < 5.0.4 |
5.0.4 |
| moodle/moodle | >= 5.1.0-beta, < 5.1.1 |
5.1.1 |
How to fix
Move to the fixed version or later with your package manager, update the lockfile, and run your tests. If the package only arrives through another dependency, upgrade that dependency first. If none of its releases pulls a fixed version yet, force the version with your package manager's override.
moodle/moodle Packagist → 4.1.22
- composer
composer require moodle/moodle:^4.1.22
Severity breakdown
CVSS 3.1 6.1
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:L
- Attack vector
- Local
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- Low
Weakness
CWE-1236: Improper Neutralization of Formula Elements in a CSV File
The product saves user-provided information into a Comma-Separated Value (CSV) file, but it does not neutralize or incorrectly neutralizes special elements that could be interpreted as a command when the file is opened by a spreadsheet product.
How to prevent it
- Implementation: When generating CSV output, ensure that formula-sensitive metacharacters are effectively escaped or removed from all data before storage in the resultant CSV. Risky characters include '=' (equal), '+' (plus), '-' (minus), and '@' (at).
- Implementation: If a field starts with a formula character, prepend it with a ' (single apostrophe), which prevents Excel from executing the formula.
- Architecture and Design: Certain implementations of spreadsheet software might disallow formulas from executing if the file is untrusted, or if the file is not authored by the current user.
References
Advisories
Packages
Other links
- github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/29820c5ff4ef381c7a743091ec5c68ac82903b22
- github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/aa66bacd0783cbc33528fba9c2adca1f685a59bd
- github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/dc57ccc491a2a04032445a3ee92fd0d335ebd746
- access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-67851
- bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi
- moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php
Timeline
- Published
- Last updated by the source
- Latest EPSS score
Related advisories
| Advisory | Severity | Why it's related |
|---|---|---|
| GHSA-cg8j-5cr2-568q Moodle TeX formula editor is vulnerable to DoS through lack of execution time limits | Medium | Also affects moodle/moodle |
| GHSA-ggxq-2mg9-8966 Moodle has a Remote Code Execution risk via file restore | High | Also affects moodle/moodle |
| GHSA-8jrv-wx83-w3xj Moodle Inserts Sensitive Information Into Sent Data | Medium | Also affects moodle/moodle |
| GHSA-hcm6-q6pc-xfhm Moodle has an authorization logic flaw | Critical | Also affects moodle/moodle |
| GHSA-vwhw-vp9v-q9c9 Moodle vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting | Medium | Also affects moodle/moodle |
| GHSA-5cx4-w4fh-fr57 Moodle Affected by Improper Restriction of Excessive Authentication Attempts | High | Also affects moodle/moodle |
| GHSA-qv78-6gpp-hm68 Moodle Open Redirect vulnerability | Medium | Also affects moodle/moodle |
| GHSA-6mmv-f6c6-v6q8 Moodle vulnerable to Cross-site Scripting | Medium | Also affects moodle/moodle |
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