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ILIAS LMS EUVDEUVD-2026-95886

| CVE-2026-108113 HIGH
Unrestricted Upload of File with Dangerous Type (CWE-434)
2026-10-09 VulnCheck GHSA-v9q7-6vp4-97vg
8.7
CVSS 4.0 · Vendor: VulnCheck
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Attack ChainAIDerived

Hypothetical attack flow derived from CVE metadata – not a confirmed exploit chain

  1. Access
    Authenticate with question-pool import rights
  2. Delivery
    Upload crafted QTI archive
  3. Exploit
    Bypass ilQtiMatImageSecurity validation
  4. Execution
    Write .htaccess and PHP to web dir
  5. Persist
    Request planted PHP file over HTTP
  6. Impact
    Execute code as web server user

Vulnerability Assessment

Weakness
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A06:2025 - Insecure Design
ASVS 5.0
V5 - File Handling File type validation, storage isolation
MITRE ATT&CK

2 techniques across 2 tactics: Command and Control, Persistence

The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up.

Exploitation Conditions

Exploitation requires an authenticated ILIAS account holding question-pool (QTI) import rights - i.e., author/tutor-level permissions - not anonymous access. The attack is triggered specifically through the QTI question-import image-handling path (ilQtiMatImageSecurity), where a crafted import archive can write a .htaccess plus a PHP file into the web-served image directory. Limiting factors: the attacker must already be a trusted authoring user and the target must run an affected version (before 9.24, 10.12, or 11.5); instances that restrict import rights to vetted staff materially reduce realistic risk. No special non-default configuration is otherwise required - the vulnerable import handling is standard behavior in affected versions.

Impact

This is a credible, high-priority vulnerability but not an emergency for most organizations. The provided CVSS 4.0 vector (AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N) describes network-reachable, low-complexity exploitation requiring low privileges (PR:L) and no user interaction, with full compromise of the vulnerable system (VC:H/VI:H/VA:H) - consistent with CWE-434 unrestricted file upload leading to RCE as the web server user. The key limiting signal is PR:L: the attacker must already be an authenticated ILIAS user holding question-pool import rights (an author/tutor-level privilege), so this is not an anonymous internet-wide RCE. No EPSS score, KEV listing, or POC indicator was provided in the input, so exploitation probability cannot be quantified; absence of KEV means there is no evidence of active exploitation. The source-code patch diff is detailed and confirms the vulnerable mechanism (validation bypass in ilQtiMatImageSecurity allowing .htaccess + PHP writes into the web-served directory), which raises confidence that a working exploit is readily derivable from the public commits even though no standalone POC is referenced. Net: real, patch-worthy priority for ILIAS operators who have untrusted authors, but the required insider/author privilege and niche product footprint keep real-world mass-exploitation risk moderate rather than critical.

Exploit ScenarioDerived

An authenticated ILIAS user with question-pool import rights (e.g., a course author or a self-registered user granted authoring on a permissive instance) uploads a crafted QTI import archive. The archive abuses the image-handling path to drop a .htaccess file plus a PHP payload into the web-served image directory, which the attacker then requests over HTTP to execute arbitrary code as the web server user. No separate public POC is referenced, but the published patch commits disclose the exact bypass.

This Week Schedule remediation this week. Why: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9).
Patch available 0.6% exploitation probability (EPSS)

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AnalysisAIv1 – Oct 09, 2026

Remote code execution in ILIAS LMS versions before 9.24, 10.12, and 11.5 lets an authenticated author who holds question-pool (QTI) import rights upload a crafted question-import archive that writes a .htaccess file plus a PHP payload into the web-served image directory, resulting in code execution as the web server user. The defect is an unrestricted file upload (CWE-434) in the QTI image-handling security class ilQtiMatImageSecurity, reached through the standard question import path with no non-default configuration required. Exploitation requires a legitimate, permissioned authoring account rather than anonymous access, no public exploit code has been identified at time of analysis, and vendor-released fixes are available in 9.24, 10.12, and 11.5; instances that limit QTI import rights to vetted staff face materially lower realistic risk.

RemediationAI

Vendor-released patches are available: upgrade to ILIAS 9.24 (9.x branch), 10.12 (10.x branch), or 11.5 (11.x branch), or later, per the advisories at https://docu.ilias.de/go/blog/15821/950, /951, and /952. Administrators who cannot upgrade immediately can apply the upstream fixes manually from the three referenced commits - https://github.com/ILIAS-eLearning/ILIAS/commit/58ee5b1767212530f9948adb0e7d5aecec66ce60, https://github.com/ILIAS-eLearning/ILIAS/commit/5b200351330bee698432a45c0877c5bc694c367a, and https://github.com/ILIAS-eLearning/ILIAS/commit/47c8462bf46bbebd543a9f3b39c7896b0e9e7362 - recognizing that these are upstream commits and a tagged release should be preferred over hand-patching. As a compensating control, remove QTI/question-pool import rights from broad author and tutor roles and grant them only to vetted staff, since the entire attack path depends on an authenticated user with import privileges; the trade-off is reduced self-service content authoring. Additionally, harden the web server so that PHP cannot execute inside the directory ILIAS uses for question and media images - for example by disabling script execution and overriding .htaccess handling for that path (in Apache terms, AllowOverride None combined with php_flag engine off, or an equivalent location block in nginx) - and alert on unexpected .htaccess or .php files appearing under the ILIAS data/web image directories; these controls carry the trade-off of requiring web server configuration changes outside the application and of potentially breaking legitimate direct image serving if applied too broadly. Note that the attacker-controlled .htaccess is itself part of the exploit chain, so treating any newly created .htaccess in image directories as a compromise indicator is warranted.

Affected VersionsENISA

Ilias 10.0 <10.12
Ilias 5.2.8 <9.24
Ilias 11.0 <11.5

Affected Packages

euvd ilias fix: 9.24, 10.12, 11.5

Source: OSV (Open Source Vulnerabilities)

Affects your stack

Affects 1 package in euvd

Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.

Technical ContextAI · show details

ILIAS handles the import of QTI (Question and Test Interoperability) question packages, and images referenced inside those packages are validated before being copied into the web-served image directory by Services/QTI/classes/class.ilQtiMatImageSecurity.php. The vulnerable logic decided whether to enforce image-type checks based on the presence of a file extension in the material's URI: if the URI carried no extension, validation returned true early, and the file-extension determination fell back to the attacker-controlled label. The media-object label check itself used the unanchored pattern /(il_([0-9]+)_mob_([0-9]+))/, which matched any label merely containing that substring, and the same loose pattern appeared in Modules/Test/classes/class.ilObjTest.php and Modules/TestQuestionPool/classes/import/qti12/class.assQuestionImport.php. Because importers base64-decode embedded image content before writing it, a crafted archive could land a .htaccess plus a .php file in a directory the web server serves, turning an upload into PHP execution as the web server user (CWE-434, unrestricted upload of file with dangerous type). The upstream fix anchors the label regex to ^il_[0-9]+_mob_[0-9]+\z, adds a validateEncoding() gate that only accepts base64-embedded content or canonical media-object labels, validates media-object URIs through validateMediaObjectUri(), and rejects unsafe URIs containing null bytes, backslashes, leading slashes, or '..' path segments so referenced files cannot escape the import archive. Affected installations are those flagged under CPE cpe:2.3:a:ilias-elearning_e.v.:ilias:* - effectively all releases prior to the fixed lines. Tags associated with this issue underscore the PHP, RCE, and file-upload characteristics.

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Severity by source

Vendor (VulnCheck) PRIMARY 8.7 HIGH
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N
vuln.today AI 8.8 HIGH

Network-reachable import feature usable by low-privileged authors (PR:L), no user interaction, yielding RCE as web server user with full C/I/A impact and no scope change.

3.1 AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
4.0 AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Primary rating from Vendor (VulnCheck).

CVSS VectorVendor: VulnCheck

Attack Vector
Network
Attack Complexity
Low
Attack Requirements
None
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Vulnerable system: Confidentiality
High
Vulnerable system: Integrity
High
Vulnerable system: Availability
High
Subsequent system: Confidentiality
None
Subsequent system: Integrity
None
Subsequent system: Availability
None

DescriptionCVE.org

ILIAS before 9.24, 10.12, and 11.5 contains an unrestricted file upload vulnerability in QTI question import image handling (ilQtiMatImageSecurity) that allows authenticated authors to write executable files. Attackers with question pool import rights can import a crafted archive writing a .htaccess and PHP file to the web-served image directory, achieving remote code execution as the web server user.

Executive ViewAI

Why It Matters

ILIAS LMS deployments older than 9.24, 10.12, and 11.5 carry an upload-handling defect that allows a user holding question-bank (QTI) import rights to plant executable code in a web-served image directory and run it as the web server account, compromising the platform that hosts course content, assessments, and student records. Because the preconditions centre on a legitimate, permissioned authoring account rather than anonymous access, realistic exposure is concentrated in institutions that grant QTI import rights broadly, including large universities and outsourced or multi-tenant content-authoring arrangements. Leadership should treat this as a serious integrity risk to the learning platform and to any connected data or systems the web server can reach.

Business Impact: High
Compensating Controls

Apply vendor patch.

Threat Intelligence Overview

EPSS Score
0.6%
Top 51% exploitable
Prevalence
Low
niche open-source LMS, mainly academic and European institutional deployments
Data Quality
5 sources
Confidence: Medium

How this decision was reached

The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.

SignalValue
Severity HIGH
CISA KEV No
Public POC No
EPSS 0.6%
Patch available Yes
Active threat No
Deciding rule
HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9)
What every action level means
Emergency Immediate action required. Criteria: CRITICAL + in CISA KEV (actively exploited) without patch, OR CRITICAL + EPSS > 30% without patch, OR CRITICAL + active threat signals without patch.
Act Now Prioritize within 24-48h. Criteria: in KEV with patch available, OR CRITICAL + public POC, OR HIGH + EPSS > 10%, OR CRITICAL + active threat, OR any CRITICAL severity.
This Week Schedule remediation this week. Criteria: HIGH severity (CVSS 7.0-8.9). Patch within normal change window.
This Month Plan within 30 days. Criteria: MEDIUM severity (CVSS 4.0-6.9), lower exploitation probability. Include in regular patch cycle.
Monitor Track and reassess. Criteria: LOW severity (CVSS 0.1-3.9), minimal exploitation risk. No immediate action needed.

SSVC AssessmentENISA

SSVC Decision· derived
Scheduled
Exploitation· derived
None
System Exposure· derived
Open
Automatable· derived
No
Human Impact
High

Priority Score

45
Low Medium High Critical
KEV: 0
EPSS: +1
CVSS: +44
PoC: 0
Weaponized: 0
Threat intel: 0
Gov advisory: 0

Attack Technique

Malicious file upload attacks exploit insufficient validation when web applications accept user-provided files.

Remote Code Execution represents the critical moment when an attacker successfully runs arbitrary code on a target system without physical access.

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