CVE-2025-60238
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 · uneditedDeserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in universam UNIVERSAM universam-demo allows Object Injection.This issue affects UNIVERSAM: from n/a through <= 9.04.02.
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 confidenceThis is a PHP Object Injection vulnerability via deserialization of untrusted data in the UNIVERSAM demo application. The vulnerability allows remote attackers to inject malicious PHP objects, potentially leading to remote code execution (RCE). The affected version is UNIVERSAM through version 9.04.02.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate UNIVERSAM installation and versionSearch the server for UNIVERSAM files (e.g., 'unversam', 'universam' directories) and check for version information in composer.json, a README file, or version-specific configuration filesAffected if UNIVERSAM is present and the installed version falls within any affected version range (compare against CVE reference)
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Find unserialize() calls in the codebaseUse grep or similar to search all PHP files for 'unserialize(' patterns: grep -rn 'unserialize(' /path/to/universam/Affected if Any unserialize() call exists in the UNIVERSAM codebase
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Identify if unserialize() receives untrusted inputExamine each unserialize() call to determine if the data source is user-controlled (e.g., from $_GET, $_POST, $_COOKIE, or HTTP request parameters)Affected if unserialize() is called with data derived from HTTP request parameters, cookies, or other user-supplied input
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Check for magic methods in classesSearch for __wakeup, __destruct, __call, __toString magic methods in the codebase that could be chained for exploitation: grep -rn '__wakeup\|__destruct\|__call\|__toString' /path/to/universam/Affected if Classes with magic methods exist in the application and could potentially be triggered via object injection
The environment is affected if UNIVERSAM is installed with any unserialize() call that processes untrusted user input, allowing PHP object injection.
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 dataAvoid using unserialize() with untrusted user input; implement whitelist-based validation or use safer alternatives like JSON serialization; upgrade to a patched version if available.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $5,408.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-60238 — 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-2025-60238 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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