CVE-2023-2453
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThere is insufficient sanitization of tainted file names that are directly concatenated with a path that is subsequently passed to a ‘require_once’ statement. This allows arbitrary files with the ‘.php’ extension for which the absolute path is known to be included and executed. There are no known means in PHPFusion through which an attacker can upload and target a ‘.php’ file payload.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceA Local File Inclusion (LFI) vulnerability in PHPFusion where tainted file names are directly concatenated with file paths and passed to require_once statements without sanitization. An attacker with knowledge of the absolute path can execute arbitrary .php files. While the CVSS is high (8.8), exploitation is limited by the inability to upload .php payloads through the application and the requirement to know absolute server paths.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data<= 9.10.30CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify PHPFusion installation and versionCheck for the presence of PHPFusion by locating administration files (e.g., 'administration' folder) or the main index.php. Retrieve the version number from the version file (e.g., includes/version.php) or by examining the footer/admin panel.Affected if PHPFusion version 9.10.30 or lower is installed
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Locate file inclusion code in includes directorySearch PHP source files in the 'includes' directory for require_once statements that concatenate user input without sanitization. Look for patterns like 'require_once($path . $file)' or similar where $file derives from $_GET or $_POST parameters.Affected if Code contains require_once with unsanitized user-controlled file parameters
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Identify vulnerable theming or includes parametersExamine PHP files handling theming or modular includes (commonly in themefiles or includes folder). Check if parameters like 'themefile', 'inc', or 'section' are used in file inclusion without validation.Affected if Parameters used in file inclusion are not validated against an allowlist
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Verify attacker cannot upload PHP filesCheck if any upload functionality permits .php file extensions. Review upload handlers in the administration panel and main upload scripts for extension validation.Affected if Upload functionality allows .php file uploads (this would increase exploitability)
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Confirm absolute path knowledge requirementReview application error handling. Determine if verbose error messages or debug modes could leak absolute server paths to an attacker.Affected if Application exposes absolute server paths in errors or debug output
User is affected if running PHPFusion version 9.10.30 or lower with vulnerable file inclusion code that accepts unsanitized user input.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataImplement strict input validation using allowlists or canonicalization checks before file inclusion operations, ensuring only explicitly permitted files can be included.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2023-2453 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2023-2453 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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