CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2023-7064 — Averta Shortcodes And Extra Features For Phlox Theme security vulnerability

High CVSS 7.5

The Shortcodes and extra features for Phlox theme plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 2.17.5 via deserialization of untrusted input from the vulnerable 'id' parameter in the 'auxin_template_control_importer' function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers able to upload a separate PHAR payload as an image file to inject a PHP Object, though the action itself is available to subscribers. No POP chain is present in the vulnerable plugin. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it could allow the attacker to delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code.

Severity
High
CVSS
7.5 (3.1)
Published
2024-05-02
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
php/wordpress
Weaknesses
CWE-502

Affected products

  • averta / shortcodes_and_extra_features_for_phlox_theme

Matched remediation archetype

Unsafe deserialization and object reconstruction

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Check exposure

  • Inventory serialization formats accepted from requests, queues, caches, files, cookies, and cross-service messages.
  • Trace whether untrusted input can select classes, types, callbacks, constructors, or object hooks during decoding.
  • Identify signing, schema validation, trust-boundary, and compatibility settings for each decoder.

Remediate safely

  • Replace native object deserialization with a data-only format and explicit schema validation.
  • If replacement is not immediate, use a safe decoder with a minimal type allowlist and disable polymorphic or executable hooks.
  • Update the affected library and add inert tests for unknown types, extra fields, malformed nesting, and unsigned data.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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