CVE-2025-61872
MediumCVSS 6.1Exploitation Probability (EPSS)
Low risk9th percentile - higher than 9% of all known CVEs
Summary
Mahara before 25.04.2 and 24.04.11 are vulnerable to displaying results that can trigger XSS via a malicious search query string. This occurs in the 'search site' feature when using the Elasticsearch7 search plugin. The Elasticsearch function does not properly sanitize input in the query parameter.
Risk Assessment
An attacker can inject a malicious script that executes in the browser of a user viewing search results, potentially leading to session or data theft.
Recommendation
Update Mahara to version 25.04.2 or 24.04.11 (or later), which contains the input sanitization fix in the Elasticsearch7 plugin.
Other vulnerabilities in Mahara
See all- CVE-2017-1000151High
Mahara versions 15.04 before 15.04.9, 15.10 before 15.10.5, and 16.04 before 16.04.3 are vulnerable to passwords or other sensitive information being passed by unusual parameters to end up in an error log.
- CVE-2017-1000150High
Mahara versions 15.04 before 15.04.7 and 15.10 before 15.10.3 are vulnerable to not regenerating session IDs on login or logout. This increases the risk of session fixation attacks for site users.
- CVE-2017-1000148High
Mahara versions 15.04 before 15.04.8, 15.10 before 15.10.4, and 16.04 before 16.04.2 are vulnerable to PHP code execution as Mahara would pass portions of the XML through the PHP 'unserialize()' function when importing a skin from an XML file.
- CVE-2017-1000139High
Mahara versions 1.8 before 1.8.7, 1.9 before 1.9.5, 1.10 before 1.10.3, and 15.04 before 15.04.0 are vulnerable to server-side request forgery (SSRF) attacks due to not checking all curl redirect processes against a white or black list.
- CVE-2017-1000134High
Mahara versions 1.8 before 1.8.6, 1.9 before 1.9.4, 1.10 before 1.10.1, and 15.04 before 15.04.0 are vulnerable due to group members potentially losing access to group files they uploaded if another group member changes the access permissions on them.
- CVE-2017-1000133High
Mahara versions 15.04 before 15.04.8, 15.10 before 15.10.4, and 16.04 before 16.04.2 are vulnerable to a user causing another user's artefacts to be included in a Leap2a export of their own pages under certain circumstances.
- CVE-2017-14163High
An issue exists in Mahara before 15.04.14, 16.x before 16.04.8, 16.10.x before 16.10.5, and 17.x before 17.04.3 that allows access to a user's account after closing the browser without logging out. The value in the usr_session table is not removed, enabling access to the account by reopening the browser and adjusting the 'mahara' cookie to the old value.
- CVE-2026-42164Critical
Mahara before 25.04.5 and 26.04.0 is vulnerable in the Text block/section functionality when a call is crafted in a certain way that allows it to recall the backed-up content from another Text section.
- CVE-2026-42162Critical
Mahara before 25.04.5 and 26.04.0 is vulnerable to artefacts being accessible to others under certain circumstances when the file path to an artefact in a page is manipulated.
- CVE-2026-42163Critical
Mahara before 25.04.5 and 26.04.0 is vulnerable to unauthorized access to internal accounts via Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) under certain circumstances. This applies to LTI 1.1 and LTI 1.3 Advantage.
Original NVD description (English source)
Mahara before 25.04.2 and 24.04.11 are vulnerable to displaying results that can trigger XSS via a malicious search query string. This occurs in the 'search site' feature when using the Elasticsearch7 search plugin. The Elasticsearch function does not properly sanitize input in the query parameter.
Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS