CVE-2025-39470: Path Traversal Vulnerability in ThimPress Ivy School Leading to PHP Local File Inclusion

Overview

A security vulnerability, CVE-2025-39470, has been identified in ThimPress Ivy School. This vulnerability exposes the system to path traversal attacks, where an attacker can manipulate a URL in such a way that it leads to file inclusion from local or external resources. The impact of this vulnerability is significant as it could potentially allow an attacker to compromise the system or leak sensitive data.
The vulnerability affects all versions of ThimPress Ivy School up to version 1.6.0. This is a matter of serious concern for all ThimPress Ivy School users, as the exploitation of this vulnerability can lead to unauthorized access to sensitive information and even complete system compromise.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-39470
Severity: High (CVSS: 8.1)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

Product | Affected Versions

ThimPress Ivy School | Up to 1.6.0

How the Exploit Works

The vulnerability stems from the application’s failure to properly sanitize user-supplied input. An attacker can exploit this by using a series of ‘..’ characters in the URL to traverse the directory structure and include files from outside the intended directory. This can lead to the execution of arbitrary PHP code within the context of the application, which can lead to complete system compromise.

Conceptual Example Code

Below is a conceptual example of a malicious HTTP request that an attacker could use to exploit this vulnerability:

GET /thimpress_ivy_school/../../../etc/passwd HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com

This request would cause the server to return the contents of the ‘/etc/passwd’ file, which could reveal sensitive information about the system’s users.

Mitigation

Users are advised to apply the vendor patch as soon as it is available. In the meantime, a web application firewall (WAF) or intrusion detection system (IDS) can be used to detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability. Also, it is recommended to restrict access to the application to trusted networks until the patch has been applied.