CVE-2016-2151
Moodle allows attackers to discover student e-mail addresses
user/index.php in Moodle through 2.6.11, 2.7.x before 2.7.13, 2.8.x before 2.8.11, 2.9.x before 2.9.5, and 3.0.x before 3.0.3 grants excessive authorization on the basis of the moodle/course:viewhiddenuserfields capability, which allows remote authenticated users to discover student e-mail addresses by leveraging the teacher role and reading a Participants list.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
4.3
user/index.php in Moodle through 2.6.11, 2.7.x before 2.7.13, 2.8.x before 2.8.11, 2.9.x before 2.9.5, and 3.0.x before 3.0.3 grants excessive authorization on the basis of the moodle/course:viewhiddenuserfields capability, which allows remote authenticated users to discover student e-mail addresses by leveraging the teacher role and reading a Participants list.
- Record
CVE-2016-2151- CVSS 3.0
- 4.3 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N - CVSS 2.0
- 4.0 Medium
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
user/index.php in Moodle through 2.6.11, 2.7.x before 2.7.13, 2.8.x before 2.8.11, 2.9.x before 2.9.5, and 3.0.x before 3.0.3 grants excessive authorization on the basis of the moodle/course:viewhiddenuserfields capability, which allows remote authenticated users to discover student e-mail addresses by leveraging the teacher role and reading a Participants list.
- Record
CVE-2016-2151- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2022-5079 No score
user/index.php in Moodle through 2.6.11, 2.7.x before 2.7.13, 2.8.x before 2.8.11, 2.9.x before 2.9.5, and 3.0.x before 3.0.3 grants excessive authorization on the basis of the moodle/course:viewhiddenuserfields capability, which allows remote authenticated users to discover student e-mail addresses by leveraging the teacher role and reading a Participants list.
- Record
EUVD-2022-5079- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-r3fc-hx6q-g6cq
4.3
Moodle allows attackers to discover student e-mail addresses
user/index.php in Moodle through 2.6.11, 2.7.x before 2.7.13, 2.8.x before 2.8.11, 2.9.x before 2.9.5, and 3.0.x before 3.0.3 grants excessive authorization on the basis of the moodle/course:viewhiddenuserfields capability, which allows remote authenticated users to discover student e-mail addresses by leveraging the teacher role and reading a Participants list.
- Record
GHSA-r3fc-hx6q-g6cq- CVSS 3.0
- 4.3 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
4.3
user/index.php in Moodle through 2.6.11, 2.7.x before 2.7.13, 2.8.x before 2.8.11, 2.9.x before 2.9.5, and 3.0.x before 3.0.3 grants excessive authorization on the basis of the moodle/course:viewhiddenuserfields capability, which allows remote authenticated users to discover student e-mail addresses by leveraging the teacher role and reading a Participants list.
- Record
CVE-2016-2151- CVSS 3.0
- 4.3 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVGHSA-r3fc-hx6q-g6cq
4.3
Moodle allows attackers to discover student e-mail addresses
user/index.php in Moodle through 2.6.11, 2.7.x before 2.7.13, 2.8.x before 2.8.11, 2.9.x before 2.9.5, and 3.0.x before 3.0.3 grants excessive authorization on the basis of the moodle/course:viewhiddenuserfields capability, which allows remote authenticated users to discover student e-mail addresses by leveraging the teacher role and reading a Participants list.
- Record
GHSA-r3fc-hx6q-g6cq- CVSS 3.0
- 4.3 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N - Weakness
- CWE-200
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVMGASA-2016-0122 No score
Updated moodle packages fix security vulnerability
In Moodle before 2.8.11, teachers who otherwise were not supposed to see students' emails could see them in the participants list (CVE-2016-2151).
In Moodle before 2.8.11, Moodle traditionally trusted content from external DB, however it was decided that external datasources may not be aware of web security practices and data could cause problems after importing to Moodle (CVE-2016-2152).
In Moodle before 2.8.11, a user with higher permissions could be tricked into clicking a link which would result in Reflected XSS in mod_data advanced search (CVE-2016-2153).
In Moodle before 2.8.11, users without capability to view hidden courses but with capability to subscribe to Event Monitor rules could see the names of hidden courses (CVE-2016-2154).
In Moodle before 2.8.11, the Non-Editing Instructor role can edit the exclude checkbox in the Single View grade report (CVE-2016-2155).
In Moodle before 2.8.11, users without the capability to view hidden acitivites could still see associated calendar events via web services, via the external function get_calendar_events (CVE-2016-2156).
In Moodle before 2.8.11, CSRF is possible on the Assignment plugin admin page, however an exploit is unlikely to benefit anybody and can easily be reversed (CVE-2016-2157).
In Moodle before 2.8.11, enumeration of course category details is possible without authentication (CVE-2016-2158).
In Moodle before 2.8.11, students were able to add assignment submissions after the due date through web service, via the external function mod_assign_save_submission (CVE-2016-2159).
In Moodle before 2.8.11, when following external links that were added with the _blank target, a referer header would be added (CVE-2016-2190).
- Record
MGASA-2016-0122- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
moodle/moodlePackagist |
before 2.7.13 | 2.7.13 |
moodle/moodlePackagist |
2.8.0 up to 2.8.11 | 2.8.11 |
moodle/moodlePackagist |
2.9.0 up to 2.9.5 | 2.9.5 |
moodle/moodlePackagist |
3.0.0 up to 3.0.3 | 3.0.3 |
moodle/moodlePackagist |
before 2.7.13, plus listed versions v2.3.10v2.3.11v2.3.4v2.3.5v2.3.6 Show 45 moreShow lessv2.3.7v2.3.8v2.3.9v2.4.0v2.4.0-rc1v2.4.1v2.4.10v2.4.11v2.4.2v2.4.3v2.4.4v2.4.5v2.4.6v2.4.7v2.4.8v2.4.9v2.5.0v2.5.0-betav2.5.0-rc1v2.5.1v2.5.2v2.5.3v2.5.4v2.5.5v2.5.6v2.5.7v2.5.8v2.5.9v2.6.0v2.6.0-betav2.6.0-rc1v2.6.1v2.6.10v2.6.11v2.6.2v2.6.3v2.6.4v2.6.5v2.6.6v2.6.7v2.6.8v2.6.9v2.7.0v2.7.0-betav2.7.0-rc1 |
2.7.13 |
moodle/moodlePackagist |
2.8.0 up to 2.8.11, plus listed versions v2.8.0v2.8.1v2.8.10v2.8.2v2.8.3 Show 6 moreShow lessv2.8.4v2.8.5v2.8.6v2.8.7v2.8.8v2.8.9 |
2.8.11 |
moodle/moodlePackagist |
2.9.0 up to 2.9.5, plus listed versions v2.9.0v2.9.1v2.9.2v2.9.3v2.9.4 |
2.9.5 |
moodle/moodlePackagist |
3.0.0 up to 3.0.3, plus listed versions v3.0.0v3.0.1v3.0.2 |
3.0.3 |
moodleMageia:5 |
before 2.8.11-1.mga5 | 2.8.11-1.mga5 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2016-2151 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 4.3) in Moodle, published March 25, 2016. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 1.58%, the 75th percentile. Fixed in moodle/moodle 2.7.13.
References
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/03/21/1
git.moodle.org/gw?p=moodle.git&a=search&h=HEAD&st=commit&s=MDL-52433
securitytracker.com/id/1035333
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=330173
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-2151
github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/089ab60017cd3207990658fbd37f7f31948539fa
Show 20 moreShow less
github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/094fddd00f2e8e832e21e80f417c7b88b33a1f27
github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/85380c6b616e82e31115fbb585d37f0e15f8b0b2
github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/8e24a54e526c149469bd77c910876c4489e87841
github.com/moodle/moodle/commit/a0034bb01773e36dffed2a665646f9cc31d68d5b
web.archive.org/web/20160424224349/http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1035333
github.com/advisories/GHSA-r3fc-hx6q-g6cq
github.com/moodle/moodle
advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2016-0122.html
bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18048
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=330174
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=330175
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=330176
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=330177
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=330178
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=330179
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=330180
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=330181
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=330182
docs.moodle.org/dev/Moodle_2.8.11_release_notes
moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=329783
Left out here: 13 versions. The JSON record has them.