CVE-2025-60197
Published: 06 November 2025
Summary
CVE-2025-60197 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 31.1th 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-2025-60197 is an Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program vulnerability, known as PHP Remote File Inclusion, in the owenr88 Simple Contact Forms WordPress plugin (simple-contact-forms). The flaw enables PHP Local File Inclusion and affects all versions from n/a through 1.6.4. It is associated with CWE-98 and received 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 high severity due to network accessibility, high attack complexity, no privileges or user interaction required, and high impacts across confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Unauthenticated remote attackers (PR:N) can exploit this vulnerability over the network (AV:N) without user interaction (UI:N), though it requires high attack complexity (AC:H). Successful exploitation allows local file inclusion, potentially enabling attackers to read sensitive local files or, depending on server configuration, execute arbitrary code, leading to the high impacts outlined in the CVSS metrics.
Mitigation details are available in the Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Plugin/simple-contact-forms/vulnerability/wordpress-simple-contact-forms-plugin-1-6-4-local-file-inclusion-vulnerability?_s_id=cve. The vulnerability was published on 2025-11-06T16:16:04.953.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2025-38118
Vulnerability details
Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in owenr88 Simple Contact Forms simple-contact-forms allows PHP Local File Inclusion.This issue affects Simple Contact Forms: from n/a through <= 1.6.4.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Unauthenticated remote local file inclusion vulnerability in a public-facing WordPress plugin directly enables exploitation of public-facing applications (T1190), with potential for sensitive file reads or code execution depending on configuration.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly mitigates the CVE by requiring timely remediation of the flawed PHP include/require logic in the Simple Contact Forms plugin through patching vulnerable versions <=1.6.4.
Prevents LFI exploitation by enforcing validation of untrusted inputs used as filenames in PHP include/require statements to block arbitrary local file access.
Mitigates LFI by establishing and enforcing secure configuration settings in PHP, such as open_basedir restrictions, to limit file system access paths.