CVE-2025-26909 - How a Local File Inclusion Vulnerability in Hide My WP Ghost Puts Your WordPress Site at Risk
Published: June 2024
Author: AI Security Post
If you’re running a WordPress site, you might use the popular plugin Hide My WP Ghost to protect your site from common attacks and bots. But a new security vulnerability—CVE-2025-26909—shows that sometimes, even security plugins can have their own weaknesses.
In this detailed post, we'll break down what this vulnerability is, how it works, and what you should do to protect your site. We'll keep the language simple and show real-life code snippets and proof-of-concept exploit details.
Versions: all up to 5.4.01
- Vulnerability type: PHP Local File Inclusion (LFI) via improper control of filename for include/require statement
- Impact: An attacker can read arbitrary files from your server, including sensitive configuration files.
What is a PHP File Inclusion Vulnerability?
File inclusion in PHP happens when the code pulls in a file using functions like include or require. If the filename isn’t properly checked, a hacker could tamper with the file parameter and load files from elsewhere on your server.
Local File Inclusion (LFI): Load a file already on the server
- Remote File Inclusion (RFI): Load a file from an attacker’s website (not always possible—allow_url_include is usually off)
Let’s imagine a part of Hide My WP Ghost’s PHP code looks like this
// Example vulnerable code in Hide My WP Ghost
if (isset($_GET['file'])) {
$file = $_GET['file'];
include($file . '.php');
}
Here, the plugin takes the file parameter from the user’s request and includes whatever PHP file you want—even files outside the plugin directory.
Exploitation: How Attackers Abuse This
Attackers can manipulate the file parameter to point to sensitive files. Because the script is appending ".php", normal files like /etc/passwd (Linux password file) won’t work directly. But you can try null bytes, directory traversal, or just include WordPress’s config file like this:
http://victim.com/wp-content/plugins/hide-my-wp-ghost/vulnerable-script.php?file=../../../../wp-config
This would try to include /wp-config.php, where WordPress keeps database credentials.
In some situations (for example when the plugin uses include(), not require_once(), and allow_url_include is on), attackers could also try remote inclusion, but this is rare by default these days.
`
GET /wp-content/plugins/hide-my-wp-ghost/vulnerable.php?file=../../../../wp-config
`
3. If successful, the attacker sees contents of wp-config.php in their browser, including your database login!
Database credentials exposure: Attackers steal your WordPress MySQL username and password.
- Persistent site takeover: With the database login, attackers can inject admin users, change settings, implant backdoors, and more.
- Leak of secret keys: WordPress secret salts/keys in wp-config.php can be stolen, weakening cookie/session security.
How Can You Fix or Prevent CVE-2025-26909?
- Update the plugin: Authors have fixed the issue in Hide My WP Ghost 5.4.02 and later. Always use the latest version.
- Don’t trust user inputs: If you’re a plugin or theme developer, never include files based on user-supplied data, unless you whitelist safe values.
} else {
// Error: file not allowed!
die('Invalid input');
}
`
- Restrict access: Use .htaccess or server rules to block direct access to sensitive plugin files.
Resources and Official References
- Original WordPress plugin Hide My WP Ghost
- Hide My WP Ghost security changelog
- PHP Include Vulnerability documentation
- CWE-829: Inclusion of Functionality from Untrusted Control Sphere
Conclusion
CVE-2025-26909 is a textbook example of why even plugins meant to boost WordPress security need constant review. If you’re running Hide My WP Ghost, ensure you upgrade past version 5.4.01 as soon as possible. Always be wary of how plugins use parameters from users—and stay updated, because security is never set-and-forget in the WordPress ecosystem.
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Disclaimer:
This post is for educational awareness only. Do not attempt exploiting vulnerabilities on websites you do not own or have explicit permission to test.
Timeline
Published on: 03/27/2025 16:15:30 UTC
Last modified on: 03/27/2025 16:45:12 UTC