CVE-2025-68985
Published: 30 December 2025
Description
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.
Security Summary
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.
Details
- CWE(s)
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise Techniques
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.