Executive brief
The Especio theme for WordPress is vulnerable to a security flaw that allows unauthorized users to access sensitive files on the web server. By exploiting this vulnerability, an attacker could view internal configuration files, such as those containing database credentials, potentially leading to a full takeover of the website and its data. There is currently no official patch available from the developer.
Technical details
A Local File Inclusion (LFI) vulnerability exists in the ThemeREX Especio theme for WordPress (versions <= 1.0) due to improper control of filenames in PHP include/require statements (CWE-98). An unauthenticated remote attacker can exploit this by sending specially crafted requests to include local files from the server's filesystem. Successful exploitation can lead to the disclosure of sensitive information, such as wp-config.php, or potentially remote code execution if combined with other techniques like log file poisoning. As of the advisory date, no official patch has been released, though third-party mitigation rules are available.
Affected products
- ThemeREX Especio <= 1.0
Timeline
- 2025-10-15: other: Vulnerability reported by researcher
- 2026-05-26: advisory: Patchstack published advisory
- 2026-06-17: disclosed: CVE published to NVD