CVE-2016-2158
MEDIUMCVE-2016-2158 is a medium-severity (CVSS 4.3) Information Exposure vulnerability in moodle/moodle. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2016-2158 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Moodle allows attackers to obtain sensitive category-detail information
Blast Radius
moodle/moodle🐘moodle/moodle🐘moodle/moodle🐘moodle/moodleReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
lib/ajax/getnavbranch.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, when the forcelogin feature is enabled, allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive category-detail information from the navigation branch by leveraging the guest role for an Ajax request.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | moodle/moodle | all versions | 2.7.13 |
| 🐘Packagist | moodle/moodle | ≥ 2.8.0&&< 2.8.11 | 2.8.11 |
| 🐘Packagist | moodle/moodle | ≥ 2.9.0&&< 2.9.5 | 2.9.5 |
| 🐘Packagist | moodle/moodle | ≥ 3.0.0&&< 3.0.3 | 3.0.3 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for moodle/moodle. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update moodle/moodle to 2.7.13 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2016-2158 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2016-2158 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2016-2158. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2016-2158 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2016-2158 across Packagist dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.