Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-67856

Access Control in Moodle ≤ 4.1.22

Published
03 February 2026
Modified
26 February 2026
CVSS Score v3.1 5.4
Click a component to see what it means
Raw vectorCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N
EPSS Score 0.0027 19th percentile
Risk Priority 42 floored blend · peak EPSS

Summary

CVE-2025-67856 is a medium-severity Incorrect Authorization (CWE-863) vulnerability in Moodle Moodle. Its CVSS base score is 5.4 (Medium).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Privilege Escalation (T1068); ranked at the 19th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified map to AC-24 (Access Control Decisions) and AC-25 (Reference Monitor) — see the control section below for these in your framework.

Deeper analysis AI-assisted summary

Synthesised by an AI model from the NVD description and linked references — a reading aid, not an authoritative source.

CVE-2025-67856 is an authorization logic flaw in Moodle, stemming from incomplete role checks during the badge awarding process. This vulnerability allows badges to be granted without proper verification, enabling unauthorized users to obtain badges they are not entitled to. Published on 2026-02-03, it is associated with CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization) and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 5.4 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:N), rated as Medium severity.

The vulnerability can be exploited by a low-privileged authenticated user over the network with low attack complexity and no user interaction required. Attackers can manipulate the badge awarding mechanism to self-award or award badges improperly, potentially resulting in privilege escalation or unauthorized access to Moodle features gated by those badges.

Red Hat has issued an advisory detailing the issue at https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2025-67856, with additional tracking in Bugzilla at https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2423864. Security practitioners should consult these resources for patch availability and mitigation guidance specific to affected Moodle deployments.

OWASP Top 10 for Web (2025)

EU & UK References

Vulnerability Data

A flaw was found in Moodle. An authorization logic flaw, specifically due to incomplete role checks during the badge awarding process, allowed badges to be granted without proper verification. This could enable unauthorized users to obtain badges they are not…

more

entitled to, potentially leading to privilege escalation or unauthorized access to certain features.

CWE(s)

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques

T1068 Exploitation for Privilege Escalation Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may exploit software vulnerabilities in an attempt to elevate privileges.
T1548 Abuse Elevation Control Mechanism Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may circumvent mechanisms designed to control privilege elevation to gain higher-level permissions.
T1548.002 Bypass User Account Control Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may bypass UAC mechanisms to elevate process privileges on system.
T1548.003 Sudo and Sudo Caching Privilege Escalation
Adversaries may perform sudo caching and/or use the sudoers file to elevate privileges.
T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access
Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.
T1210 Exploitation of Remote Services Lateral Movement
Adversaries may exploit remote services to gain unauthorized access to internal systems once inside of a network.
Derived from this CVE’s CWE(s) via the direct CWE→ATT&CK cross-walk.

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-26526Same product: Moodle Moodle
CVE-2025-3647Same product: Moodle Moodle
CVE-2025-26532Same product: Moodle Moodle
CVE-2025-3644Same product: Moodle Moodle
CVE-2024-43433Same product: Moodle Moodle
CVE-2025-26531Same product: Moodle Moodle
CVE-2025-3645Same product: Moodle Moodle
CVE-2025-62394Same product: Moodle Moodle
CVE-2024-48897Same product: Moodle Moodle
CVE-2024-48901Same product: Moodle Moodle

Affected Assets

moodle
moodle
5.1.0 · ≤ 4.1.22 · 4.4.0 — 4.4.12 · 4.5.0 — 4.5.8

Mitigating Controls

Control response

Prevent
Stop it (NIST 800-53)

Detect
Catch it (NIST detect / respond)

Harden
Shrink the surface (DISA STIG)
  • 5 hardening rules · 3 OS baselines
Validate
Prove the fix (OWASP ASVS)

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

AC-3 directly requires correct enforcement of authorization decisions on every access request, structurally preventing incorrect checks.

AC-24 ensures access-control decisions are made and applied consistently, reducing the chance of an incorrect authorization result.

A reference monitor that is always invoked and tamper-proof forces every authorization decision through a verified, correct path.

Least-privilege assignments shrink the set of authorizations that must be checked correctly, limiting exposure to flawed checks.

Mitigating Controls (NIST CSF 2.0) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→CSF cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

PR.AA-05 mostly match
prevents

Defining, enforcing, and reviewing access authorizations and least privilege directly prevents incorrect authorization checks.

Mitigating Controls (ISO/IEC 27001:2022 Annex A) AI

Derived directly from the weakness types (CWEs) cited in the NVD entry via our AI-authored CWE→ISO cross-walk (authority under review) — links open the control.

prevents

Requiring consistency between access rights and classification plus formal approval steps ensures that the authorization logic correctly distinguishes between entities that should and should not be granted access.

prevents

Enforcing policy-driven approval and role-change reviews stops incorrect or stale authorization decisions from remaining in effect after job changes or terminations.

prevents

By tying access rights to identity, device, location and classification, the control reduces the likelihood that an authorization decision will be based on an incorrect or bypassed policy.

Hardening callouts derived

Configuration rules from DISA STIG baselines that bear on weaknesses of the type cited by this CVE. Each rule is shown with the relationship its mapping actually records, against the CWE it was authored against. Derived via CVE→CWE over `controls_xwalks` (authoritative rows only; rows rated `none` are excluded).

Oracle Linux 8 (2 rules)
  • V-248581 OL 8 must require users to provide a password for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
  • V-252656 The OL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 7 (1 rule)
  • V-204430 The Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system must be configured so that users must re-authenticate for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863
RHEL 8 (1 rule)
  • V-251712 The RHEL 8 operating system must not be configured to bypass password requirements for privilege escalation. prevents CWE-863

References