Description

A vulnerability has been found in GibbonEdu Gibbon up to 30.0.01. The affected element is the function makeBlock of the file modules/Planner/units_add_blockAjax.php of the component Unit Planner. The manipulation of the argument gibbonUnitBlockID/mode leads to missing authentication. The attack is possible to be carried out remotely. The exploit has been disclosed to the public and may be used. Upgrading to version 31.0.00 is sufficient to fix this issue. The identifier of the patch is 07e719368eae8dfb4e22e19424ceab6074164ebc. It is recommended to upgrade the affected component.

Executive Summary

Technical Details

Mitigations

References

Additional Metadata

{
  "score": "5.3",
  "pubDate": "2026-09-25T14:17:27.217Z",
  "pubdate": "2026-09-25T14:17:27.217Z",
  "executiveSummary": "A critical authentication bypass vulnerability exists in the Unit Planner component of GibbonEdu Gibbon, affecting versions up to 30.0.01.\nThe vulnerability originates from improper access control within the makeBlock function, allowing remote, unauthenticated attackers to interact with sensitive unit planning operations.\nBy manipulating the gibbonUnitBlockID or mode arguments via the units_add_blockAjax.php script, an unauthorized actor can execute functionality intended solely for authenticated users.\nThis flaw poses a significant risk to data integrity within the educational planning environment, as attackers could potentially modify or inject unauthorized unit blocks without establishing a valid session.\nGiven that public exploit code has been disclosed, the attack surface is active, necessitating immediate patching.\nThere are no complex exploitation prerequisites beyond network connectivity to the affected target, making this a high-priority security concern.",
  "technicalDetails": "The vulnerability is situated within the modules/Planner/units_add_blockAjax.php file of the Gibbon Unit Planner component. The root cause is a failure to enforce session validation or adequate authorization checks within the makeBlock function.\nThe application relies on AJAX-driven requests to manage unit blocks. When a request is sent to units_add_blockAjax.php, the makeBlock function processes input parameters, specifically gibbonUnitBlockID and mode, to perform state-changing operations on the planner data.\nDue to the absence of server-side authentication verification, the function does not confirm the identity of the requester. An remote attacker can craft an HTTP request targeting this endpoint, bypassing the standard application authentication gatekeeper.\nThe exploitation flow involves an attacker interacting directly with the modules/Planner/units_add_blockAjax.php endpoint while supplying manipulated gibbonUnitBlockID or mode parameters. Since the backend fails to validate the user's session credentials against the requested action, the server proceeds to execute the logic associated with the specified mode. This effectively grants the attacker unauthorized control over the manipulation of unit block data.\nBecause the exploit is disclosed publicly, the attack is trivial to perform, requiring only a simple POST or GET request directed at the target installation. The post-exploitation impact includes the ability to alter curriculum data, inject arbitrary unit information, or potentially disrupt the organizational flow of the Unit Planner.\nThe issue persists in all versions up to and including 30.0.01. The lack of architectural enforcement for access control at the entry point of the AJAX handler constitutes a fundamental failure in the security design of the component's API structure.\nThe patch identified by commit 07e719368eae8dfb4e22e19424ceab6074164ebc implements the necessary authentication checks to ensure that the makeBlock function cannot be invoked by unauthenticated actors, effectively neutralizing the vulnerability."
}