CVE-2022-42707 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting multiple versions of Mahara, an open-source ePortfolio and social networking web application widely used in educational institutions. The vulnerability exists in versions 21.04 prior to 21.04.7, 21.10 prior to 21.10.5, 22.04 prior to 22.04.3, and 22.10 prior to 22.10.0. It allows unauthorized access to embedded images without proper permission checks under certain conditions. This means that users or attackers without sufficient privileges can view embedded images that should otherwise be restricted. The root cause is a failure in enforcing access control (CWE-284) on embedded image resources, leading to a confidentiality breach. The CVSS v3.1 base score is 7.5, reflecting a network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), high impact on confidentiality (C:H), and no impact on integrity or availability (I:N/A:N). There are no known exploits in the wild as of the published date, and no official patches linked in the provided data, but the affected versions indicate that patched releases exist. The vulnerability primarily compromises confidentiality by exposing potentially sensitive images embedded in Mahara portfolios or pages to unauthorized users, which could lead to privacy violations or leakage of sensitive educational or personal information.

For European organizations, especially educational institutions and universities that deploy Mahara as part of their ePortfolio or learning management infrastructure, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to the confidentiality of student and staff data. Unauthorized access to embedded images could expose personal information, academic work, or other sensitive content. Given the GDPR requirements in Europe, such data exposure could lead to regulatory penalties and reputational damage. The impact is heightened in institutions with large user bases or where Mahara is integrated with other systems containing sensitive data. Additionally, since the vulnerability requires no authentication or user interaction, it could be exploited remotely by any attacker with network access to the affected Mahara instance, increasing the risk of data leakage. Although integrity and availability are not affected, the breach of confidentiality alone is critical in the context of privacy laws and institutional trust.

European organizations should immediately verify their Mahara version and upgrade to the latest patched release versions: 21.04.7 or later, 21.10.5 or later, 22.04.3 or later, or 22.10.0 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, organizations should implement network-level access controls restricting external access to Mahara instances, such as IP whitelisting or VPN requirements. Additionally, review and tighten permission configurations within Mahara to ensure minimal exposure of embedded content. Monitoring access logs for unusual or unauthorized image retrieval attempts can help detect exploitation attempts. Organizations should also conduct a thorough audit of embedded content to identify and remove any sensitive images that should not be publicly accessible. Finally, ensure that incident response and data breach notification procedures are prepared in case of exploitation.