OpenOLAT Velocity RCE via Reminders (v<19.1.31/20.1.18/20.2.5)
CVE-2026-28228 Published on March 30, 2026
OpenOLAT: Server-Side Template Injection (SSTI) in Velocity templates allows Remote Code Execution
OpenOlat is an open source web-based e-learning platform for teaching, learning, assessment and communication. Prior to versions 19.1.31, 20.1.18, and 20.2.5, an authenticated user with the Author role can inject Velocity directives into a reminder email template. When the reminder is processed (either triggered manually or via the daily cron job), the injected directives are evaluated server-side. By chaining Velocity's #set directive with Java reflection, an attacker can instantiate arbitrary Java classes such as java.lang.ProcessBuilder and execute operating system commands with the privileges of the Tomcat process (typically root in containerized deployments). This issue has been patched in versions 19.1.31, 20.1.18, and 20.2.5.
Vulnerability Analysis
CVE-2026-28228 is exploitable with network access, and requires small amount of user privileges. This vulnerability is considered to have a low attack complexity. The potential impact of an exploit of this vulnerability is considered to be very high.
Weakness Type
Affected Versions
OpenOLAT:- Version < 19.1.31 is affected.
- Version < 20.1.18 is affected.
- Version < 20.2.5 is affected.
Exploit Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) scores estimate the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. The percentile shows you how this score compares to all other vulnerabilities.