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Deserialization of Untrusted DataWeakness · CWE-502

CVE-2025-53299

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-08-20
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 ThemeMakers ThemeMakers Visual Content Composer tmm_content_composer allows Object Injection.This issue affects ThemeMakers Visual Content Composer: from n/a through <= 1.5.8.

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 PHP Object Injection vulnerability exists in the ThemeMakers Visual Content Composer plugin (tmm_content_composer) through version 1.5.8. The plugin deserializes untrusted data without proper validation, allowing attackers to inject malicious PHP objects and potentially achieve remote code execution.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of the ThemeMakers Visual Content Composer. If no patch is available, disable the plugin until a fix is released, as the CVSS 9.8 score indicates critical severity with network-exploitable remote attack vector.

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 plugin installation directory
    Check your WordPress wp-content/plugins directory for a folder named 'tmm_content_composer' or 'visual-content-composer'
    Affected if The plugin directory does not exist - the plugin is not installed
  2. Read the plugin version
    Open the main plugin PHP file (usually tmm_content_composer.php) and look for the 'Version:' header in the plugin comment block, or check the readme.txt file in the plugin folder
    Affected if The version listed is 1.5.8 or any lower version - the vulnerability is present
  3. Verify the plugin is active
    In WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Installed Plugins and check if ThemeMakers Visual Content Composer shows as 'Active'
    Affected if The plugin is active and version is 1.5.8 or lower - the vulnerability is exploitable
  4. Inspect for deserialization calls
    Search the plugin PHP files for 'unserialize' function calls, particularly those operating on user-supplied data like $_POST, $_GET, or $_REQUEST variables
    Affected if The plugin contains unserialize() calls on untrusted input - the vulnerability is present and exploitable

Your environment is affected if the ThemeMakers Visual Content Composer plugin is installed, active, and running at version 1.5.8 or lower, with unserialize() calls operating on untrusted 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

Upgrade to a patched version of the ThemeMakers Visual Content Composer. If no patch is available, disable the plugin until a fix is released, as the CVSS 9.8 score indicates critical severity with network-exploitable remote attack vector.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,840
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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-2025-53299 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data