CVE-2025-56430
📋 TL;DR
This CVE describes a directory traversal vulnerability in FearlessCMS that allows remote attackers to delete arbitrary directories via the plugin-handler.php file. This affects all users running vulnerable versions of FearlessCMS, potentially leading to complete system compromise through directory deletion.
💻 Affected Systems
- Fearless Geek Media FearlessCMS
📦 What is this software?
Fearlesscms by Fearlessgeekmedia
⚠️ Risk & Real-World Impact
Worst Case
Complete system compromise through deletion of critical system directories, leading to permanent data loss and service disruption.
Likely Case
Denial of service through deletion of web application directories, causing service interruption and potential data loss.
If Mitigated
Limited impact with proper file permissions and directory restrictions in place.
🎯 Exploit Status
Exploitation requires sending crafted requests to plugin-handler.php with directory traversal sequences.
🛠️ Fix & Mitigation
✅ Official Fix
Patch Version: Not available
Vendor Advisory: https://github.com/fearlessgeekmedia/FearlessCMS/issues/36
Restart Required: No
Instructions:
No official patch available. Consider workarounds or migrating to alternative CMS solutions.
🔧 Temporary Workarounds
Restrict access to plugin-handler.php
allBlock or restrict access to the vulnerable plugin-handler.php file
# Apache: Add to .htaccess
<Files "plugin-handler.php">
Order Deny,Allow
Deny from all
</Files>
# Nginx: Add to server block
location ~ /plugin-handler\.php$ {
deny all;
return 403;
}
Implement input validation
allAdd directory traversal validation to deleteDirectory function
# Modify plugin-handler.php to validate paths
# Add path sanitization before deleteDirectory calls
$path = realpath($input_path);
if (strpos($path, BASE_DIR) !== 0) {
die('Invalid path');
}
🧯 If You Can't Patch
- Implement strict file permissions to limit directory deletion capabilities
- Deploy web application firewall (WAF) rules to block directory traversal patterns
🔍 How to Verify
Check if Vulnerable:
Check if plugin-handler.php exists and is accessible, and verify FearlessCMS version is between v0.0.2 and v0.0.2-15Check Version:
Check CMS configuration files or admin panel for version informationVerify Fix Applied:
Test if directory traversal attempts to deleteDirectory function are properly blocked or validated📡 Detection & Monitoring
Log Indicators:
- HTTP requests to plugin-handler.php with ../ sequences
- File deletion errors in web server logs
- Unusual directory deletion attempts
Network Indicators:
- HTTP POST/GET requests containing directory traversal patterns to plugin-handler.php
SIEM Query:
source="web_server" AND (uri="*plugin-handler.php*" AND (uri="*../*" OR uri="*..\\*"))