Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
GUnet OpenEclass 1.7.3 reportedly stores user passwords in plaintext. Anyone with administrator-level access can view registered users’ usernames and passwords, creating risk of credential theft and password reuse attacks against other systems. This is most urgent for organizations still running the very old 2007-era 1.7.3 release.
Executive priority
Prioritize if OpenEclass 1.7.3 is internet-facing, used by many users, or tied to institutional credentials. Treat as lower priority if the product is not present. Because password reuse can expand impact beyond the platform, remediation should include credential hygiene, not only software cleanup.
Technical view
CVE-2020-37115 is a CWE-256 plaintext password storage issue in GUnet OpenEclass 1.7.3. The provided CVSS 4.0 score is 7.1, with network attack vector and low privileges required. Sources indicate administrator access can expose all registered user credentials. A public ExploitDB entry exists, but the bundle does not show CISA KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to environments still operating GUnet OpenEclass 1.7.3. The main business risk is disclosure of user credentials by any administrator or compromised administrator account, with downstream risk where users reused passwords on email, LMS, VPN, or institutional services.
Exploitation context
A public ExploitDB reference is listed, indicating public technical disclosure. However, the provided sources do not establish active exploitation in the wild, and the CVE is not marked KEV. Exploitation requires at least low privileges, described as administrator visibility of stored credentials.
Researcher notes
The source bundle identifies only GUnet OpenEclass 1.7.3 as affected. It does not provide a specific fixed version. The changelog is referenced as a patch-related source, but remediation details should be verified directly with vendor documentation before making version-specific claims.
Mitigation direction
- Identify and decommission or upgrade any GUnet OpenEclass 1.7.3 deployments.
- Review vendor site and changelog for supported versions and remediation guidance.
- Restrict administrator access to trusted personnel only.
- Rotate OpenEclass passwords after remediation.
- Consider rotating passwords on other systems if reuse is plausible.
Validation and detection
- Inventory web applications for GUnet OpenEclass 1.7.3.
- Confirm version through approved administrative or asset-management methods.
- Review whether stored user passwords are plaintext in the affected deployment.
- Audit administrator accounts and recent administrative access.
- Verify password rotation occurred after migration or remediation.
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.
CWE-256: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCredential and access behavior lookup
The CVE wording references authentication or credential exposure, so valid-account and credential-access review may help. This is a Glexia inferred lookup path, not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, or CVE Program mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2020-37115 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
- High
- CVSS
- 7.1 (4.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
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 vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N——Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 4.0 score
7.1HighVector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:N/VA:N/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- ExploitDB-48163CVE reference · exploit
- Official Vendor HomepageCVE reference · product
- ChangelogCVE reference · patch
- VulnCheck Advisory: GUnet OpenEclass 1.7.3 E-learning platform - Plaintext Password StorageCVE reference · third-party-advisory
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.
Plaintext Storage of a Password
Plaintext Storage of a Password represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.