After
remaining in denial mode for nearly a week, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has said that security vulnerabilities identified in the OnMark portal used for its digital evaluation process have been contained. The development comes as the Board continues to face mounting scrutiny over alleged errors linked to the newly introduced on-screen marking (OSM) system for Class 12 examinations. Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has raised serious questions about the tender award for OSM and the process followed for scanning students' answer sheets.
CBSE said in a post on X, "We have been closely monitoring the vulnerabilities in the OnMark portal of our service provider that are being flagged in the public domain," adding that cybersecurity experts from various government agencies had been deployed to assess the issue.
"The identified vulnerabilities have been contained, and other exploitable weaknesses are being ruled out. We are grateful to alert citizens and ethical hackers who pointed out these weaknesses, and we have contacted some of them directly," the Board said.
The issue has become particularly sensitive because it surfaced alongside complaints from Class 12 students across the country alleging mismatched answer sheets, handwriting discrepancies and incorrect marks during the re-evaluation process.
According to CBSE, cybersecurity specialists from various government agencies and premier Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have been working to strengthen the platform's security architecture. The Board said efforts are also underway to migrate the system to a more secure environment and identify any remaining vulnerabilities.
Thousands of Answer-book Scans under Review
The assurance comes amid growing concerns about the OSM system, introduced for the first time in CBSE's Class 12 board examinations this year.
In a post on X, Mr Gandhi, the leader of Opposition (LoP) from Lok Sabha, said, “CBSE’s May 2025 tender required answer sheets to be scanned with automatic robotic scanners, spines preserved, at a minimum of 300 DPI. The tender re-issued in August quietly removed all of it. “Scanners” became generic. Resolution dropped to 200 DPI. Now we know what that meant in practice. It has been exposed that COEMPT scanned the answer sheets using mobile phones. The blurred copies, the missing pages, the unscanned books - they are not “errors.” They are the predictable outcome of a contract written to fit a vendor. This is fraud. And every child whose marks were wrongly evaluated is a victim of it.”
According to media reports, CBSE is considering financial penalties against Hyderabad-based technology vendor Coempt Edutech Pvt Ltd, which manages the digital evaluation platform, after significant issues emerged during the marking process.
Sources cited in these reports indicate that CBSE has identified around 5,000 blurred scans of answer books. At least 23 cases have also reportedly been detected in which students received scanned copies belonging to other candidates.
The OSM system involves scanning physical answer sheets and making them available online for evaluation by examiners. CBSE had projected the initiative as a means to reduce manual errors, improve transparency and enhance efficiency.
However, students have reported a range of problems, including unclear scans, missing pages, incorrect marking and discrepancies between physical answer books and their digital versions.
Viral Complaint Triggers Wider Scrutiny
The controversy intensified after a student's complaint about an alleged mismatch between his original physics answer sheet and the scanned copy supplied by CBSE went viral on social media.
The student claimed that the document provided during the re-evaluation process did not belong to him, citing differences in handwriting and answers. Several other students subsequently reported similar concerns and shared screenshots highlighting alleged inconsistencies in evaluation records.
CBSE, however, denied any breach of its evaluation portal.
In
an earlier post on X, the Board clarified that the portal highlighted in social media discussions was a testing platform and not the live evaluation system.
"At the outset, it is clarified that the portal used for evaluation of answer books bore a different URL, which has neither been compromised nor does it have the vulnerabilities indicated in the said social media post," CBSE said.
According to the Board, the URL in question was used only for internal testing with sample data and did not contain actual evaluation records, marks or student information.
"If this were test data, how was I able to log in with production user data completely? I have a screen recording of it and proof of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) acknowledging it," he said. CBSE has maintained that no security breach affecting the actual evaluation environment has come to light and that all legitimate grievances relating to scanned answer books or evaluation will be addressed through established review mechanisms.
Another student, Sarthak Sidhant raised questions on the scanned copies and its quality, especially drop shadows and three folds appearing on some answer sheets.
Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has also acknowledged discrepancies during the implementation of the new system. While describing OSM as a globally accepted and student-centric model, he assured affected candidates that all complaints would be examined and no grievance would be ignored.
Re-evaluation Portal Opens
Amid the controversy, CBSE on Sunday opened the Class 12 re-evaluation and verification portal.
Only students who have already obtained photocopies of their answer books are eligible to apply. Candidates have been advised to review the marking scheme and question papers before submitting requests.
The Board has fixed the fee at ₹500 per answer book for verification and ₹100 per question for re-evaluation. Officials said the portal will remain open for at least two days after the final scanned answer book is made available to applicants.
Security Concerns Add to Pressure
The evaluation controversy has been compounded by cybersecurity concerns after an individual identifying himself as an ethical hacker claimed to have discovered multiple vulnerabilities in the evaluation platform.
The individual alleged that weaknesses in the system could potentially have enabled unauthorised access to answer sheets, evaluator accounts and student data. He said the issues had been reported to CERT-In.
CBSE subsequently rejected allegations of any breach affecting the live evaluation environment, reiterating that the portal cited in the claims was only a testing platform containing no actual examination data.
Despite the clarification, the episode has intensified scrutiny of CBSE's digital evaluation infrastructure and the safeguards surrounding it.
Parliamentary Panel To Review OSM Rollout
The controversy is now set to come under parliamentary scrutiny.
The parliamentary standing committee on education, women, children, youth and sports is scheduled to meet in New Delhi on Tuesday to review the implementation of on-screen marking in CBSE's Class 12 examinations and assess the challenges reported by students.
The meeting will be attended by the secretary of the department of school education and literacy and the CBSE chairman. Committee members are expected to seek details regarding the system's functioning, the volume of complaints received and measures being taken to prevent similar issues in future examinations.
The discussion comes amid broader concerns over examination management in India, including ongoing debates surrounding national entrance tests and the integrity of digital assessment systems.
Political Sparring Intensifies
The issue has also triggered a political exchange between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Congress.
Mr Gandhi on Sunday criticised prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi for not publicly addressing concerns raised by students affected by the OSM system.
The government has rejected the criticism. Mr Pradhan defended the adoption of digital evaluation tools and accused opponents of attempting to undermine technological reforms in the education sector.
As the re-evaluation process begins and parliamentary scrutiny intensifies, CBSE faces the challenge of restoring confidence in a system introduced with the promise of greater transparency but now at the centre of one of the year's most significant examination controversies.
