CVE-2022-35653 — moodle/moodle
MEDIUMCVE-2022-35653 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in moodle/moodle. A fix is available for moodle/moodle — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Moodle LTI module reflected XSS risk
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2022-35653 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 378,156 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
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
A reflected XSS issue was identified in the LTI module of Moodle. The vulnerability exists due to insufficient sanitization of user-supplied data in the LTI module. A remote attacker can trick the victim to follow a specially crafted link and execute arbitrary HTML and script code in user's browser in context of vulnerable website to steal potentially sensitive information, change appearance of the web page, can perform phishing and drive-by-download attacks. This vulnerability does not impact authenticated users.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | moodle/moodle | ≥ 4.0&&< 4.0.2 | 4.0.2composer require moodle/moodle:^4.0.2 |
| 🐘Packagist | moodle/moodle | ≥ 3.11&&< 3.11.8 | 3.11.8composer require moodle/moodle:^3.11.8 |
| 🐘Packagist | moodle/moodle | ≥ 3.9&&< 3.9.15 | 3.9.15composer require moodle/moodle:^3.9.15 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for moodle/moodle, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update moodle/moodle to 4.0.2 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2022-35653 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 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2022-35653 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2022-35653. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
How to detect CVE-2022-35653
A community-maintained Nuclei template exists for this CVE. You can scan for it directly:
nuclei -id cve-2022-35653 -u https://target- Template
- Moodle LTI module Reflected - Cross-Site Scripting
- Severity
- medium
- Impact
- Attackers can inject malicious JavaScript through the LTI module that executes in educators' or students' browsers, potentially stealing Moodle session credentials and accessing sensitive course information.
- Remediation
- Update Moodle to a patched version that properly sanitizes user input in the LTI module and prevents execution of injected scripts.
Template by ProjectDiscovery nuclei-templates (iamnoooob, pdresearch), MIT licensed. View the full template. Scan only systems you are authorised to test.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2022-35653 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds CVE-2022-35653 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.