CVE-2025-53244

High

Published: 28 August 2025

Published

28 August 2025

Modified

23 April 2026

KEV Added

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Patch

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CVSS Score v3.1 8.1 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

EPSS Score 0.0016 36.4th percentile

Risk Priority 16 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-53244 is a high-severity PHP Remote File Inclusion (CWE-98) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 8.1 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 36.4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-2 (Flaw Remediation).

Deeper analysis

CVE-2025-53244 is an Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program vulnerability, classified as a PHP Remote File Inclusion issue that enables PHP Local File Inclusion, affecting the Magazine Elite WordPress theme by unfoldwp. This flaw impacts all versions of the Magazine Elite theme from n/a through 1.2.4.

The vulnerability has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.1 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network by unauthenticated attackers without user interaction, though it requires high attack complexity. Successful exploitation grants high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability, mapped to CWE-98.

Mitigation details are available in the Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Theme/magazine-elite/vulnerability/wordpress-magazine-elite-theme-1-2-4-local-file-inclusion-vulnerability?_s_id=cve.

EU & UK References

🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-25996

Vulnerability details

Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in unfoldwp Magazine Elite magazine-elite allows PHP Local File Inclusion.This issue affects Magazine Elite: from n/a through <= 1.2.4.

CWE(s): CWE-98

Related Threats

MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI

T1190 Exploit Public-Facing Application Initial Access

Adversaries may attempt to exploit a weakness in an Internet-facing host or system to initially access a network.

attack.mitre.org →

T1005 Data from Local System Collection

Adversaries may search local system sources, such as file systems, configuration files, local databases, virtual machine files, or process memory, to find files of interest and sensitive data prior to Exfiltration.

attack.mitre.org →

Why these techniques?

LFI/RFI in public-facing PHP/WordPress app directly enables remote exploitation (T1190) and arbitrary local file reads (T1005).

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v18.1