Cyber Resilience

CVE-2025-68985

High

Published: 30 December 2025

Published
30 December 2025
Modified
27 April 2026
KEV Added
—
Patch
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CVSS Score v3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS Score 0.0011 28.8th percentile
Risk Priority 15 60% EPSS · 20% KEV · 20% CVSS

Summary

CVE-2025-68985 is a high-severity PHP Remote File Inclusion (CWE-98) vulnerability. Its CVSS base score is 7.5 (High).

Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploit Public-Facing Application (T1190); ranked at the 28.8th 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-2025-68985 is an Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program vulnerability, classified as PHP Remote File Inclusion but enabling PHP Local File Inclusion (CWE-98), affecting the Aora WordPress theme developed by thembay. The issue impacts all versions of Aora from n/a through 1.3.15. Published on 2025-12-30, it carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (AV:N/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).

An attacker with low privileges (PR:L) can exploit this over the network (AV:N), though it requires high attack complexity (AC:H) and no user interaction (UI:N). Successful exploitation grants high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (C:H/I:H/A:H) within the unchanged scope (S:U), allowing inclusion and potential execution of local PHP files, which could lead to unauthorized access or code execution depending on server configuration.

Mitigation details are available in the Patchstack advisory at https://patchstack.com/database/Wordpress/Theme/aora/vulnerability/wordpress-aora-theme-1-3-15-local-file-inclusion-vulnerability?_s_id=cve.

EU & UK References

Vulnerability details

Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in thembay Aora aora allows PHP Local File Inclusion.This issue affects Aora: from n/a through <= 1.3.15.

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?

T1190 directly matches exploitation of a public-facing WordPress theme vulnerability (LFI/RFI). T1005 is facilitated by the ability to read sensitive local files via LFI.

Confidence: HIGH · MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise v19.0

CVEs Like This One

CVE-2025-68537Shared CWE-98
CVE-2026-28079Shared CWE-98
CVE-2026-28061Shared CWE-98
CVE-2026-28048Shared CWE-98
CVE-2026-22516Shared CWE-98
CVE-2026-28120Shared CWE-98
CVE-2025-67992Shared CWE-98
CVE-2025-31432Shared CWE-98
CVE-2026-39613Shared CWE-98
CVE-2025-26957Shared CWE-98

Affected Assets

Mitigating Controls

Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI

SI-2 Flaw Remediation good match
prevent

Directly remediates the PHP file inclusion flaw in the Aora theme by identifying, reporting, and correcting the improper filename control vulnerability.

SI-10 Information Input Validation good match
prevent

Validates user-supplied filenames before PHP include/require statements to block local file inclusion exploitation.

CM-6 Configuration Settings partial match
prevent

Enforces secure PHP configuration settings like open_basedir and disabled allow_url_include to restrict the scope of local file inclusion attacks.

References