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

CVE-2026-28118

HIGH · 8.1 CVSS v3.1 Published 2026-03-05
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 axiomthemes Welldone welldone allows PHP Local File Inclusion.This issue affects Welldone: 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 Welldone theme by axiomthemes contains a PHP Local File Inclusion (LFI) vulnerability where user-supplied input is not properly validated before being used in include/require statements. This allows attackers to read sensitive local files and potentially execute arbitrary code if they can control included files.

MitigationImplement strict input validation using whitelist approaches or basename() functions to ensure only allowed files can be included; avoid passing user input directly to include/require statements.

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. Confirm Welldone theme installation
    Search the web server for files belonging to the Welldone theme (look for theme directory named 'welldone' or similar, check theme configuration files like style.css which typically contains theme metadata)
    Affected if Welldone theme is present on the server
  2. Identify Welldone theme version
    Open the theme's style.css or theme.json file and locate the version field in the theme header comment
    Affected if Version is at or below the vulnerable version range (compare against any known patched version)
  3. Find include/require statements using user input
    Search PHP files in the theme directory for patterns like 'include($_GET', 'require($_POST', 'include($' followed by any variable that could contain user input, or direct use of $_GET, $_REQUEST, $_POST in include/require statements
    Affected if Any include or require statement uses unsanitized user-supplied input (e.g., $_GET, $_POST, $_REQUEST variables) directly in the path
  4. Verify user input reaches file inclusion
    Examine the identified vulnerable include/require code paths to confirm that user parameters can be passed without validation (check for absence of basename(), realpath(), or allowlist validation before the include/require)
    Affected if User-controllable parameters are directly used in file inclusion without validation or sanitization

You are affected if the Welldone theme is installed with a vulnerable version AND contains PHP include/require statements that use unsanitized user input from request parameters.

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

Implement strict input validation using whitelist approaches or basename() functions to ensure only allowed files can be included; avoid passing user input directly to include/require statements.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2026-28118 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
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