Executive brief
Chamilo LMS, a popular open-source learning management system, contains a security flaw that allows authenticated users to execute arbitrary commands on the server. This means any user enrolled in a course—including students or teachers—could potentially take full control of the platform, leading to the theft of sensitive student data, modification of course content, or a complete shutdown of the learning service. The issue stems from insufficient access controls on a specific internal script used for language translations.
Technical details
An authenticated remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability exists in Chamilo LMS versions up to and including 1.11.40. The vulnerability is located in the `main/inc/ajax/lang.ajax.php` script, specifically within the `translate_portfolio_category` function. The endpoint is insufficiently protected by `api_protect_course_script(true)`, which fails to verify administrative privileges. Consequently, any authenticated user enrolled in a course (such as a student, teacher, or DRH) can access the endpoint. An attacker can leverage this improper authorization (CWE-285) to execute arbitrary code on the underlying server. The attack complexity is rated as high, and it requires high privileges (authenticated user status).
Affected products
- Chamilo Chamilo LMS <= 1.11.40
Timeline
- 2026-07-07: advisory: Original GitHub security advisory published
- 2026-07-20: disclosed: CVE published to NVD dataset