CVE-2020-37115: OpenEclass Plaintext Password Vulnerability

CVE-2020-37115 Overview

GUnet OpenEclass 1.7.3 contains a critical plaintext credential storage vulnerability that allows administrators to view all registered users' usernames and passwords without any form of encryption. This security weakness (CWE-256: Plaintext Storage of a Password) represents a fundamental failure in secure credential management, exposing sensitive user authentication data to unauthorized access and significantly increasing the risk of credential theft.

Critical Impact

Complete exposure of user credentials stored in plaintext, enabling credential theft, account takeover, and potential lateral movement through password reuse attacks.

Affected Products

• GUnet OpenEclass 1.7.3
• GUnet OpenEclass e-Learning Platform (versions storing plaintext credentials)

Discovery Timeline

• 2026-02-03 - CVE CVE-2020-37115 published to NVD
• 2026-02-04 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2020-37115

Vulnerability Analysis

This vulnerability represents a severe violation of secure credential storage best practices. The OpenEclass e-Learning platform stores user passwords in plaintext within its database, completely bypassing cryptographic protections such as hashing algorithms (bcrypt, Argon2, PBKDF2) that are industry-standard for credential storage.

The network-accessible nature of this vulnerability means that any authenticated administrator with database access can retrieve the complete set of user credentials. This creates multiple attack scenarios including insider threats, compromised admin accounts leading to mass credential theft, and potential regulatory compliance violations (GDPR, FERPA for educational institutions).

Root Cause

The root cause is the absence of password hashing implementation in the authentication subsystem. Rather than storing a one-way hash of user passwords, the application stores the raw password string directly in the database. This design flaw violates the principle of defense in depth and fails to protect user credentials even in scenarios where database access is compromised.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based and requires low-privilege access (administrator role). An attacker with administrative privileges can directly query the database to extract all user credentials in plaintext. The vulnerability requires no user interaction and can be exploited with low attack complexity.

Exploitation scenarios include:

• A malicious or compromised administrator directly accessing the user table
• SQL injection vulnerabilities in other parts of the application leading to credential extraction
• Database backup files being accessed by unauthorized parties
• Insider threats within educational institutions using the platform

Technical details and exploitation methods are documented in the Exploit-DB #48163 entry.

Detection Methods for CVE-2020-37115

Indicators of Compromise

• Unusual database queries targeting user credential tables
• Bulk extraction of user data from the database
• Administrative access from unexpected IP addresses or at unusual times
• Evidence of credential stuffing attacks using platform credentials on other services
• Database backup files accessed or copied by unauthorized users

Detection Strategies

• Monitor database audit logs for SELECT queries against user tables that return password fields
• Implement database activity monitoring (DAM) to detect bulk credential extraction attempts
• Review administrative access logs for anomalous patterns
• Deploy SentinelOne Singularity platform for endpoint detection of suspicious database client activity
• Correlate authentication failures across systems to detect credential reuse attacks

Monitoring Recommendations

• Enable comprehensive database query logging and retain logs for forensic analysis
• Set up alerts for any queries returning password field data from the user table
• Monitor for new administrator account creation or privilege escalation events
• Implement user behavior analytics to detect anomalous admin activity patterns

How to Mitigate CVE-2020-37115

Immediate Actions Required

• Audit the current database for plaintext password storage and assess exposure scope
• Force password resets for all users after implementing proper hashing
• Review administrative access logs for evidence of credential extraction
• Upgrade to a patched version of OpenEclass that implements secure password hashing
• Notify affected users of potential credential compromise per applicable regulations

Patch Information

Organizations should upgrade to a version of OpenEclass that implements proper password hashing. Review the Open eClass Change Log for version history and security updates. The VulnCheck Advisory provides additional guidance on remediation steps.

For current release information, visit the Open eClass Homepage.

Workarounds

• Implement database-level encryption for the user credentials table as an interim measure
• Restrict database access to only essential administrator accounts
• Enable comprehensive audit logging on all database operations involving user tables
• Consider implementing application-level password hashing through custom modification if upgrade is not immediately possible
• Segment the database server network to limit exposure

# Database access restriction example (MySQL)
# Revoke direct access to password fields from application accounts
REVOKE SELECT (password) ON openeclass.users FROM 'app_user'@'%';

# Enable general query logging for audit purposes
SET GLOBAL general_log = 'ON';
SET GLOBAL log_output = 'TABLE';