Deserialization of Untrusted DataWeakness · CWE-502

CVE-2025-31422

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-07-16
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

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 · unedited
Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in designthemes Visual Art | Gallery WordPress Theme visual-arts allows Object Injection.This issue affects Visual Art | Gallery WordPress Theme: from n/a through <= 2.4.

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 · moderate confidence

The Visual Art | Gallery WordPress Theme (visual-arts) contains a PHP Object Injection vulnerability due to insecure deserialization of untrusted data. Attackers can craft malicious serialized PHP objects and inject them via vulnerable parameters, potentially executing arbitrary code if suitable gadget chains exist in the WordPress environment.

MitigationUpdate the theme to a patched version if available; otherwise remove or replace the theme. Conduct a security audit to check for signs of exploitation.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm visual-arts theme is installed
    Check wp-content/themes/ directory for the visual-arts folder, or look in WordPress admin under Appearance > Themes
    Affected if The visual-arts theme folder exists in the WordPress installation
  2. Identify the installed theme version
    Open the style.css file in wp-content/themes/visual-arts/ and look for the 'Version:' header in the file comments
    Affected if The version found is lower than any patched version released by the vendor, or if no version information is available but the theme is present
  3. Check for deserialization sinks in theme files
    Search theme PHP files for unserialize() calls, particularly those handling user input from $_GET, $_POST, or $_REQUEST parameters
    Affected if Code contains unserialize() calls processing untrusted input without prior sanitization
  4. Identify vulnerable parameter entry points
    Review theme PHP files for $_GET, $_POST, or $_REQUEST usage passed to deserialization functions
    Affected if Parameters accepting serialized data are accessible without authentication or validation
  5. Look for signs of exploitation
    Review wp-content/uploads/, theme directories, and recently modified PHP files for suspicious code; check access logs for unusual serialized data patterns
    Affected if Unexpected PHP files exist, or logs show requests containing serialized PHP object strings (O:%%3A, a:%%3A, etc.)
  6. Verify gadget chain availability
    List installed plugins that may provide PHP object injection gadget chains (common targets: popular plugins with __wakeup or __destruct methods)
    Affected if Vulnerable theme is active AND plugins with exploitable gadget chains are installed alongside it

If the visual-arts theme is installed and processes untrusted serialized data via accessible parameters, the environment is likely affected; exploitation also requires gadget chains from plugins or other components.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update the theme to a patched version if available; otherwise remove or replace the theme. Conduct a security audit to check for signs of exploitation.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,420
Get help mitigating

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 locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-31422 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-31422 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data