Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Mahara had a cross-site scripting issue in its TinyMCE editor. An attacker could inject web script or HTML that may run in another user’s browser. The available sources identify fixed version lines, but do not provide CVSS, CWE, authentication requirements, or confirmed active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat this as a legacy web-application hygiene issue with moderate business urgency. It is not documented as actively exploited in the provided sources, but exposed outdated Mahara portals could create user-session, trust, and defacement risk.
Technical view
CVE-2013-1426 affects Mahara before 1.5.9 and 1.6.x before 1.6.4. The flaw is XSS through the TinyMCE editor, allowing arbitrary web script or HTML injection. Public data does not clarify whether exploitation requires an authenticated editor account or specific Mahara permissions.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in legacy Mahara deployments still running versions before 1.5.9 or 1.6.4 on the 1.6 branch, especially where users can create or edit content through TinyMCE. Current exposure depends on whether Mahara remains deployed and reachable.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or any cited evidence of active exploitation. The vulnerability is remotely reachable in the application context, but the available sources do not define attacker privileges, exploit maturity, or real-world use.
Researcher notes
Key gaps are missing CVSS, CWE, authentication requirements, and exploit-status detail. The description supports XSS via TinyMCE only; do not broaden impact beyond Mahara or assume unauthenticated exploitation without vendor confirmation.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Mahara to a fixed or currently supported vendor release.
- Prioritize internet-facing Mahara instances and portals with untrusted content authors.
- Review Mahara vendor guidance before applying branch-specific fixes.
- Restrict content-editing permissions until legacy instances are upgraded.
- Retire unsupported Mahara versions where upgrade is not feasible.
Validation and detection
- Inventory Mahara deployments and record exact versions.
- Confirm no instance is before 1.5.9 or 1.6.4 on affected branches.
- Identify whether TinyMCE content editing is enabled for untrusted users.
- Review recently edited content for unexpected script or HTML patterns.
- Verify remediation against Mahara and Debian advisory references.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2013-1426 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2013-1426CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
- https://mahara.org/interaction/forum/topic.php?id=5365CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
- https://bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+bug/1153423CVE reference · x_refsource_CONFIRM
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.