CVE-2025-0841: Aridius XYZ OpenCart RCE Vulnerability

CVE-2025-0841 Overview

CVE-2025-0841 is an insecure deserialization vulnerability affecting the Aridius XYZ extension for OpenCart in versions up to 20240927. The flaw resides in the loadMore function of the News component. An unauthenticated remote attacker can manipulate serialized input passed to this function to trigger unsafe object deserialization. Public exploit details have been disclosed, increasing the likelihood of opportunistic attacks against unpatched stores. The issue is categorized under [CWE-20] Improper Input Validation, with deserialization as the underlying weakness class.

Critical Impact
Remote, unauthenticated attackers can submit crafted requests to the News component's loadMore endpoint and trigger insecure deserialization, leading to limited integrity, confidentiality, and availability impact on affected OpenCart deployments.

Affected Products

Aridius XYZ extension for OpenCart, versions up to and including 20240927
OpenCart storefronts that load the Aridius News component
Any installation exposing the loadMore endpoint to network requests

Discovery Timeline

2025-01-29 - CVE-2025-0841 published to the National Vulnerability Database
2026-04-15 - Last updated in NVD database

Technical Details for CVE-2025-0841

Vulnerability Analysis

The vulnerability exists in the loadMore function inside the News component of the Aridius XYZ OpenCart extension. The function accepts attacker-controlled data and passes it into a deserialization routine without validating the type or source of the payload. When PHP deserializes attacker-supplied input, it can instantiate arbitrary classes already loaded in the application, invoking their magic methods such as __wakeup or __destruct. Attackers chain these methods through gadget classes to achieve effects ranging from data tampering to code execution paths, depending on the gadgets available in the OpenCart runtime. The CVE references a GitHub Gist exploit script demonstrating exploitation, alongside the VulDB submission for entry 293998.

Root Cause

The root cause is improper input validation [CWE-20] in loadMore, where serialized data sourced from an HTTP request is passed directly to a PHP unserialize operation. The component performs no allow-listing of expected classes and no integrity check on the payload before deserialization.

Attack Vector

The attack vector is network-based and requires no authentication or user interaction. An attacker sends a crafted HTTP request to the News component's loadMore route containing a malicious serialized object. Once the OpenCart backend deserializes the payload, the injected object graph is reconstructed inside the PHP process. EPSS data places exploitation probability at 0.167% (37.4th percentile) as of 2026-05-19, reflecting the niche extension's deployment footprint rather than exploitation difficulty.

No verified code examples are available. Refer to the VulDB CTI incident report and the publicly disclosed exploit script for technical details.

Detection Methods for CVE-2025-0841

Indicators of Compromise

HTTP POST or GET requests targeting the News component loadMore route containing serialized PHP markers such as O:, a:, or s: in parameter values
Unexpected PHP process activity spawned from the OpenCart web root following requests to the News module
New or modified files in OpenCart system/, catalog/, or upload directories that do not correspond to administrator activity
Outbound network connections from the web server to unknown hosts shortly after News component requests

Detection Strategies

Inspect web server access logs for requests to URLs containing route= parameters referencing the Aridius News loadMore action with serialized payload patterns
Deploy web application firewall rules that flag serialized PHP object signatures in request bodies and query strings
Correlate web request anomalies with PHP error logs showing __wakeup, __destruct, or class instantiation warnings

Monitoring Recommendations

Forward OpenCart access logs, PHP-FPM logs, and host telemetry to a centralized analytics platform for retroactive hunting
Baseline normal request patterns to the News module and alert on deviations in payload size, encoding, or parameter structure
Monitor file integrity across the OpenCart application directory to identify post-exploitation web shells or modified extensions

How to Mitigate CVE-2025-0841

Immediate Actions Required

Upgrade the Aridius XYZ extension to a release later than 20240927 once the maintainer publishes a fixed version
Restrict access to the News component's loadMore endpoint at the web server or WAF layer until a patch is applied
Audit the OpenCart application directory and database for signs of prior exploitation using the indicators above

Patch Information

The CVE advisory recommends upgrading the affected component. No vendor patch URL is published in the NVD entry. Administrators should monitor the Aridius extension distribution channel and the VulDB entry 293998 for fix availability. If a fixed release is not yet available, remove or disable the News component.

Workarounds

Disable the Aridius News module in the OpenCart admin panel until a patched version is installed
Deploy WAF signatures that block requests containing PHP serialization tokens such as O:8: against the affected route
Apply principle-of-least-privilege to the PHP-FPM and web server user accounts to limit post-deserialization impact

bash

# Example NGINX block to deny requests carrying PHP serialized payloads to the News route
location ~* /index\.php {
    if ($args ~* "route=extension/module/aridius_news/loadMore") {
        if ($request_body ~* "(^|&)[^=]+=O:[0-9]+:") {
            return 403;
        }
    }
}