Overview
A critical vulnerability, CVE-2025-47916, has been discovered in Invision Community 5.0.0. This vulnerability allows for remote code execution via specially crafted template strings to the themeeditor.php file. Any system running versions before 5.0.7 of Invision Community is susceptible to this exploit, potentially leading to full system compromise or data leakage.
The severity of this vulnerability cannot be overstated. It permits unauthenticated users to inject and execute arbitrary PHP code, compromising the security of the affected systems, and potentially leading to unauthorized access to sensitive data. This vulnerability poses a significant risk to any organization running the affected versions of Invision Community.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-47916
Severity: Critical, CVSS score of 10.0
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise and data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Invision Community | 5.0.0 to 5.0.6
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies within the themeeditor.php file, specifically within the themeeditor controller. Unauthenticated users can invoke a protected method named customCss, which accepts the value of the content parameter and passes it to the Theme::makeProcessFunction() method.
This method evaluates the content parameter using the template engine, which can be exploited by attackers to inject arbitrary PHP code. By supplying specially crafted template strings, an attacker can execute this arbitrary PHP code remotely, potentially leading to system compromise.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited:
POST /applications/core/modules/front/system/themeeditor.php HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
content={ "customCss": "<?php system($_GET['cmd']); ?>" }In this example, the attacker sends a POST request to the vulnerable themeeditor.php endpoint, using the content parameter to inject PHP code. This code, once executed, would allow the attacker to run arbitrary commands on the system.
Remediation
The most direct resolution for this vulnerability is to apply the vendor-supplied patch. Invision Community has released version 5.0.7 to address this vulnerability, and all users should update as soon as possible.
As a temporary measure, web application firewalls (WAFs) or intrusion detection systems (IDSs) can be configured to detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability. However, these measures are not a substitute for patching the underlying vulnerability.