PHP File Inclusion (RFI/LFI)Weakness · CWE-98

CVE-2025-32589

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-04-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
90/100
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
Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in odude Flexi – Guest Submit flexi allows PHP Local File Inclusion.This issue affects Flexi – Guest Submit: from n/a through <= 4.28.

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

This is a PHP Local File Inclusion (LFI) vulnerability in the Flexi – Guest Submit WordPress plugin. The plugin improperly controls filenames used in include/require statements, allowing attackers to include arbitrary PHP files from the server filesystem. This can lead to remote code execution (RCE) on the affected WordPress installation.

MitigationUpgrade Flexi – Guest Submit to the latest version as soon as a patched release is available. If no patch is available, consider disabling the plugin until a fix is released.

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

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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. Verify Flexi plugin is installed
    Navigate to WordPress Admin > Plugins and check if 'Flexi - Guest Submit' is listed among installed plugins
    Affected if Plugin is installed and active
  2. Check installed plugin version
    In Plugins list, click on 'Flexi - Guest Submit' to view the version number displayed below the plugin name
    Affected if Version is within the vulnerable range (compare to official CVE advisory for exact affected versions)
  3. Confirm plugin is active
    In WordPress Admin > Plugins, verify the plugin status shows 'Active' rather than 'Inactive' or 'Deactivated'
    Affected if Plugin is active and accessible to unauthenticated or authenticated users
  4. Inspect HTTP parameters for file inclusion vectors
    Review plugin source code (typically in wp-content/plugins/flexi/includes/) for include/require statements using unvalidated user input such as $_GET, $_POST, or similar superglobals
    Affected if Code contains include/require statements with unsanitized file path parameters accessible via URL
  5. Test for LFI via common parameter names
    If plugin exposes parameters like 'file', 'path', 'template', 'inc', or 'include' in URLs, attempt to include known local PHP files (e.g., ../../wp-config.php) with appropriate directory traversal
    Affected if Server responds with content from arbitrary local PHP files indicating successful LFI

User is affected if Flexi - Guest Submit plugin is installed, active, running a version within the CVE-advisory-specified vulnerable range, and the plugin code exposes include/require functionality with unvalidated user-supplied file paths.

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

Upgrade Flexi – Guest Submit to the latest version as soon as a patched release is available. If no patch is available, consider disabling the plugin until a fix is released.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2025-32589 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
  • 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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