CVE-2025-13641

Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery <= 3.59.12 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Local File Inclusion via 'template'

2025-12-17 00:00
Athiwat Tiprasaharn (Jitlada)

Strategic Overview

Status
Patched in 4.0.0
Affected Plugin
Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery
Affected Version
<= 3.59.12
CVSS
8.8High
Weakness type
CWE-98 · Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')
CVE
CVE-2025-13641
View all Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery vulnerabilities

At a glance

CVE-2025-13641 is a high-severity Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion') vulnerability in the Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes WordPress plugin, affecting versions <= 3.59.12. It carries a CVSS score of 8.8 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high confidentiality, integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Contributor level or above. The issue is fixed in version 4.0.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed December 2025, reported by Athiwat Tiprasaharn (Jitlada).

Vulnerability Overview

The Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes – NextGEN Gallery plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Local File Inclusion in all versions up to, and including, 3.59.12 via the 'template' shortcode parameter. This is due to insufficient path validation that allows absolute paths to be provided. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to include and execute arbitrary PHP files on the server, bypassing web server restrictions like .htaccess. Successful exploitation could lead to information disclosure, code execution in the WordPress context, and potential remote code execution if combined with arbitrary file upload capabilities.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on confidentiality, integrity, availability — full site compromise territory.

CWE-98: Improper Control of Filename for Include/Require Statement in PHP Program ('PHP Remote File Inclusion')

Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes <= 3.59.12 carries this weakness at template, and reaching it takes an account at Contributor level or above. PHP file inclusion means a path used by include or require is built from request data, so the file that gets executed is under the caller's influence.

Including an attacker-influenced file executes its contents, which is why this class is routinely chained with an upload or log-poisoning step to reach code execution. For Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes the fix is 4.0.0: builds <= 3.59.12 are affected, anything from 4.0.0 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.0.0, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

An attacker needs Contributor access first, so the firewall sees the attempt as traffic from a logged-in account: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. Classes like this one can leave something behind, so the staged malware scanner is the second half: it looks for dropped files and modified code rather than for the request that created them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Photo Gallery, Sliders, Proofing and Themes 4.0.0 closes this, and updating the plugin is the step that ends it.

  • Firewall
  • Scanner
  • Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-13641https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/0a01e1c9-67f4-4cc1-b58b-9cc141889d66https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-13641

Related records

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