Deserialization of Untrusted DataWeakness · CWE-502

CVE-2025-31919

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-06-17
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges 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 themeton Spare allows Object Injection. This issue affects Spare: from n/a through 1.7.

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

A deserialization vulnerability in themeton Spare theme versions up to 1.7 allows unauthenticated attackers to inject PHP objects by supplying malicious serialized data. This object injection can lead to arbitrary code execution, file inclusion, or database manipulation depending on available magic methods in the application context.

MitigationReplace PHP unserialize() with safer alternatives like JSON encoding, implement strict allowlist validation if deserialization is required, and upgrade to the latest theme version when available.

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
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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. Locate the Spare theme installation
    Search the web server's themes directory (typically /wp-content/themes/) for a folder named 'spare', 'Spare', or similar. Verify the theme is actively installed in the WordPress site.
    Affected if The Spare theme by Themeton is present in the themes directory and is the active or installed theme.
  2. Determine the installed theme version
    Open the theme's style.css file in the Spare theme folder and look for the 'Version:' comment in the file header. Alternatively, check theme.json or version.php if present.
    Affected if The version number is 1.7 or lower (e.g., 1.7, 1.6, 1.5, etc.).
  3. Identify the vulnerable unserialize call
    Search the theme's PHP files for the presence of 'unserialize()' function calls, particularly in files that handle user input (e.g., AJAX handlers, shortcode files, or template files). Common locations include functions.php, class-*.php, or ajax*.php files within the theme folder.
    Affected if Code contains an unserialize() call that processes data from $_GET, $_POST, $_REQUEST, or cookie values without prior sanitization.
  4. Verify user input reaches the deserialization point
    Examine the code flow around the unserialize() call to determine if attacker-controllable parameters (from URL parameters, form submissions, or headers) can be passed directly to the unserialize function. Check if any filters or validation exist before the unserialize call.
    Affected if User-supplied data can reach the unserialize() function without strict validation or is stored and later unserialized without verification.
  5. Check for known magic methods in the theme
    Search the theme and any included plugins/classes for PHP magic methods like __wakeup, __destruct, __toString, or __get that could be chained with the object injection for code execution. Review all class definitions within the theme.
    Affected if Classes with dangerous magic methods exist in the application context and could be invoked via the injected PHP object.

The environment is affected if the Themeton Spare theme version 1.7 or below is installed and the vulnerable unserialize() code path is reachable with user-controlled input.

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

Replace PHP unserialize() with safer alternatives like JSON encoding, implement strict allowlist validation if deserialization is required, and upgrade to the latest theme version when available.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2025-31919 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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