CVE-2021-40848

Severity: high (CVSS 7.8 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.0% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2021-11-03 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-1236

Description

In Mahara before 20.04.5, 20.10.3, 21.04.2, and 21.10.0, exported CSV files could contain characters that a spreadsheet program could interpret as a command, leading to execution of a malicious string locally on a device, aka CSV injection.

Affected products

mahara: before 20.04.5; from 20.10.0 before 20.10.3; from 21.04.0 before 21.04.2; 21.10.0-rc1, 21.10.0-rc2 — fixed in 20.04.5, 20.10.3, 21.04.2

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: mahara 20.04.5, 20.10.3, 21.04.2. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

https://bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+bug/1930471
https://mahara.org/interaction/forum/topic.php?id=8950
https://bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+bug/1930471
https://mahara.org/interaction/forum/topic.php?id=8950

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