What is CVE-2021-40849?

CVE-2021-40849 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Mahara, classified under Insufficient Session Expiration. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2021-11-03.

How severe is CVE-2021-40849?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Mahara

CVE-2021-40849

In Mahara before 20.04.5, 20.10.3, 21.04.2, and 21.10.0, the account associated with a web services token is vulnerable to being exploited and logged into, resulting in information disclosure (at a minimum) and often escalation of privileges.

Published 2021-11-03 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.014 (71.1th percentile), scored 2026-10-20.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 71st percentile — 71.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.014 · newest: 0.014 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Mahara — versions 21.10.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-613 — Insufficient Session Expiration

References

bugs.launchpad.net/mahara/+bug/1930469 (Vendor Advisory)
mahara.org/interaction/forum/topic.php (Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2021-40849?: CVE-2021-40849 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Mahara, classified under Insufficient Session Expiration. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2021-11-03.
How severe is CVE-2021-40849?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.