Nome do plugin	PixelYourSite
Type of Vulnerability	Local File Inclusion
CVE Number	CVE-2025-10723
Urgência	Alto
CVE Publish Date	2025-10-24
Source URL	CVE-2025-10723

PixelYourSite (< 11.1.2) Admin+ Local File Inclusion (CVE-2025-10723) — What WordPress Site Owners Must Do Now

Autor: WP-Firewall Security Team
Data: 2025-10-24
Etiquetas: WordPress, security, WAF, LFI, plugin-vulnerability, PixelYourSite, incident-response

Resumo — A Local File Inclusion (LFI) vulnerability affecting PixelYourSite versions prior to 11.1.2 (CVE-2025-10723) requires immediate attention. The flaw requires an administrator context to trigger, but if exploited it can disclose sensitive files from the filesystem (for example configuration files containing database credentials) and in some environments lead to escalated compromise. In this post we explain the vulnerability, real-world risk, safe detection methods, step-by-step mitigation (including virtual patching via WP-Firewall), and an incident-response checklist you can follow if you manage WordPress sites.

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Table of contents

• Visão geral
• Who is affected and the attacker prerequisites
• Technical analysis (what an LFI is and how this one behaves)
• Risk and impact (why a site owner should care)
• Safe detection and indicators of compromise (IoCs)
• Immediate mitigation: short-term, medium-term, long-term
• How our WAF (WP-Firewall) protects you — virtual patching and recommended rules
• Configuration and hardening checklist for WordPress administrators
• If you suspect compromise: incident response steps
• Patch and upgrade workflow
• Why layered defense matters
• Secure your site in minutes — start with our Free Basic plan
• Conclusion and resources

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Visão geral

PixelYourSite is a popular plugin used to deploy tracking pixels and tags across WordPress sites. A Local File Inclusion (LFI) vulnerability affecting versions prior to 11.1.2 (tracked as CVE-2025-10723) was disclosed on 24 October 2025. The vulnerability can be triggered from the WordPress admin context and allows a user with administrator privileges — or an attacker who has already obtained admin-level access — to include and display files from the local filesystem through the plugin’s admin interface.

Although this vulnerability requires admin privileges to exploit (which reduces the risk of remote, unauthenticated exploitation), it is still serious. Administrators’ accounts are frequently the target of phishing, credential stuffing and backdoor-based pivot attacks. Once an attacker controls an admin account, an LFI that reveals sensitive files can lead to database credential theft, site takeover, and pivot to other systems.

We’ll walk through how this works at a high level, what site owners should do now, and how WP-Firewall can neutralize the threat even before an official update is applied.

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Who is affected and the attacker prerequisites

• Affected software: PixelYourSite — all plugin installations with versions older than 11.1.2.
• Privilégio necessário: Administrator level in WordPress (the plugin’s admin pages).
• Exploitability: Local File Inclusion can be performed through plugin admin code that doesn’t properly validate or sanitize file path parameters used for includes or file displays.
• Environment considerations: LFI can be more damaging on shared hosts or when web server/PHP error display is on; files exposed might include wp-config.php, .env, or other application files.

Note: Because an attacker needs admin privileges first, the highest priority is protecting admin accounts and reducing the chance of those credentials being stolen. But you should assume privileged accounts can be lost and prepare layered defenses like virtual patching and monitoring.

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Technical analysis — what is LFI and how this PixelYourSite LFI behaves

Local File Inclusion (LFI) is a class of vulnerability where an application constructs a path to a local filesystem file (often based on user input) and then includes or outputs that file without adequate validation. Typical consequences:

• Disclosure of sensitive files (e.g., wp-config.php, .env, ssh keys placed under webroot)
• Exposure of credentials (database user/password), which can lead to full database compromise and complete site takeover
• In some constrained setups an LFI can be chained to remote code execution (RCE), for example by including log files that contain attacker-supplied PHP (less common on modern setups but possible in misconfigured PHP setups)

In this specific PixelYourSite issue (versions < 11.1.2), the plugin’s admin endpoint accepts a parameter that ultimately is used to look up or include a file under a path that is not strictly sanitized. If an attacker with admin privileges controls the parameter, they can point it at filesystem paths outside the intended scope.

Important technical points (high-level and safe):

• The vulnerable code path lives under the plugin’s admin pages — i.e., it is only reachable to logged-in administrators.
• The plugin failed to enforce a strict allowlist or absolute path resolution and did not canonicalize input to block directory traversal tokens.
• Attack surface is limited by required privileges, but the real-world risk is that admin credentials are commonly obtained through other means (phishing, leaked passwords, exploited lower-privileged flaws, compromised developer accounts, stolen cookies).

We will not publish proof-of-concept exploit code here. If you are a website owner or developer, follow the remediation and detection guidance below immediately.

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Risk and impact

Why you should take this seriously:

• Sensitive file disclosure: Files like wp-config.php can contain DB credentials, salts, and other secrets. Disclosure of those details frequently leads directly to full site compromise.
• Lateral movement: Once DB credentials are known, attackers may manipulate or extract data and install backdoors.
• Post-exploitation activity: Attackers with admin access can install additional plugins, create new admin users or inject content designed to spread malware or perform phishing.
• Automation: Attackers often automate exploitation against known vulnerabilities and scan the web for sites running vulnerable plugin versions.

Even though the vulnerability requires admin privileges, many incidents begin from credential theft. The bottom line: do not rely on privilege requirement as a safety net.

CVSS considerations: the published score for this issue is 7.2. That score reflects the potential for substantial impact in realistic environments.

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Safe detection and indicators of compromise (IoCs)

If you’re responsible for a WordPress site running PixelYourSite, check for signs of abuse. Below are safe checks and indicators you can use:

• Version check:
  • Verify plugin version in WordPress admin → Plugins. If it is older than 11.1.2, upgrade immediately.
• Audit admin user list:
  • Look for unexpected administrator accounts, suspicious display names or accounts created at odd times.
• Audit recent plugin admin activity and changes:
  • Check wp_posts for modified posts, plugin files’ modified times, and server logs for POST requests to admin pages.
• Log lookups:
  • Search your webserver logs for admin-page requests with suspicious parameters containing traversal tokens (../) or encoded traversal (%2e%2e%2f). Example safe search terms: “../”, “%2e%2e%2f”, “etc/passwd”, “wp-config.php”.
• File system anomalies:
  • Unexpected PHP files under wp-content/uploads, changes to core plugin files, or new scheduled tasks (wp_options cron entries).
• Database signs:
  • Unexpected admin users in wp_users, suspicious options added to wp_options, or illicit content inserted.

If you find any of the above, consider the incident response steps later in this post.

Note: logs or checks may vary depending on your hosting environment. If you don’t have sufficient access to logs, escalate to your host or use managed security services.

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Immediate mitigation: short-term, medium-term, long-term

Short-term (minutes to hours)

• Upgrade PixelYourSite to 11.1.2 (recommended).
• If you cannot immediately upgrade, apply virtual patching via your WAF (instructions below). For sites using our service, enable the managed virtual patching rule for PixelYourSite LFI.
• Limit administrative access:
  • Restrict wp-admin access by IP where feasible (admin allowed IPs).
  • Temporarily change administrator passwords and force a logout for all users (WordPress: “Passwords reset” or use plugins to invalidate sessions).
  • Enforce two-factor authentication (2FA) for all admin accounts.
• Turn off debugging and display_errors in PHP (ideally always off in production) to avoid extra leakage.

Medium-term (hours to days)

• Rotate database credentials if you suspect they may have been exposed.
• Scan your site for backdoors and changes; use both file integrity checks and malware scanners.
• Audit all admin accounts and plugins; remove unused or abandoned plugins.
• Review server-level logs for suspicious access patterns (multiple admin page parameter manipulations).

Long-term (days to weeks)

• Harden WordPress and the environment: file permissions, disable direct file editing (define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true)), and enforce least privilege for admin users.
• Use a WAF that provides virtual patching and rules tailored to plugin vulnerabilities.
• Schedule regular audits and backups; ensure backups are stored off-site and tested.
• Implement a vulnerability management policy: timely updates, staging verification, and an emergency patching plan.

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How our WAF (WP-Firewall) protects you — virtual patching and recommended rules

As the team behind WP-Firewall, our goal is to protect WordPress sites in layers. When an urgent vulnerability is disclosed, our managed firewall can provide “virtual patches” — WAF rules that block the exploitation paths without requiring an immediate plugin update.

What we do for this PixelYourSite LFI:

• Create a rule targeting the plugin’s admin endpoints that would be used to pass file parameters.
• Block requests that include directory traversal tokens or suspicious file path patterns when they target the plugin admin pages.
• Enforce additional checks: require capability tokens (nonce/capability) on admin requests and block suspicious direct parameter manipulation.
• Use a combination of positive allowlisting (only expected admin actions are allowed) and negative blocking (block traversal tokens, null bytes, known sensitive file names).

Example detection patterns (safe, for defensive use):

• Directory traversal tokens in parameters: ../ ou ..\ or their URI-encoded equivalents (%2e%2e%2f)
• Null byte injection attempts (%00)
• Filenames commonly targeted for exposure: wp-config.php, .env, /etc/passwd (for detection only — do not attempt to include these files)
• Unexpected file extension requests (e.g., .php requested via an admin include parameter intended to only accept plugin-provided fragments)

Sample ModSecurity-style rule (illustrative defensive example):

SecRule REQUEST_URI|ARGS "@rx (?:\.\./|\.\.\\|%2e%2e%2f|null(%00)?)" \
"id:990500,phase:2,deny,log,msg:'WP-Firewall - Block potential LFI traversal attempt',severity:2"


Notes on the rule above:

• It blocks requests that include directory traversal tokens in any parameter.
• In a production WAF, rules are tuned and tested to avoid false-positives. You should not drop legitimate requests without evaluating them.

WP-Firewall virtual patching policy for PixelYourSite:

• Block HTTP requests with traversal patterns to plugin admin pages (e.g., /wp-admin/admin.php?page=pixelyoursite or other known plugin admin paths).
• Block requests that attempt to pass file path parameters to the plugin action endpoints.
• Throttle/blacklist IPs that attempt repeated LFI-style requests.

How to enable virtual patching in WP-Firewall:

1. Log into your WP-Firewall dashboard.
2. Navigate to Vulnerability Protection or Virtual Patching.
3. Locate the PixelYourSite LFI rule (we publish vulnerability rules by plugin name).
4. Enable the rule; choose whether to block or only log for a testing period.
5. Monitor logs for blocked attempts and tune exemptions where necessary.

If you use our free Basic plan, you already receive essential managed firewall protection and WAF signatures that can detect and block common LFI patterns. For automatic virtual patching and priority handling, our higher tiers provide accelerated response and custom configuration.

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Recommended WAF tuning notes (to reduce false positives)

• Use a staging environment when enabling aggressive rules for the first time. Start in “log only” mode and review blocked traffic.
• Exempt trusted internal IPs during testing, but remove exemptions after verification.
• Whitelist known good admin-facing tools and integrations if they legitimately submit file-like parameters (rare).
• Combine WAF blocking with logging that captures full request headers for forensic analysis.

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Configuration and hardening checklist for WordPress administrators

Immediate actions

• Update PixelYourSite to 11.1.2 (or later) now.
• If immediate update is not possible, enable WAF virtual patching rules and restrict admin access by IP.
• Force all administrators to reset passwords and enable 2FA.

Server and WordPress hardening

• Disable PHP display_errors in production: set display_errors = 0 and log errors instead.
• Remove or deactivate unused plugins and themes.
• Set file permissions appropriately: files 644, directories 755, and wp-config.php readable by the server user only.
• Define DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT true in wp-config.php to prevent plugin/theme editor usage from the dashboard.
• Ensure backups are in place and tested. Keep at least one copy off-site.

User and credential hygiene

• Enforce strong passwords and a password manager.
• Use 2FA for all admin users.
• Audit third-party integrations and service accounts; revoke credentials that are unused.

Monitoring and logging

• Enable server and application logs (access logs, error logs, PHP-FPM logs).
• Maintain periodic file integrity checks and monitor for unexpected file changes.
• Connect logs to a centralized system (SIEM or even a simple log retention service) for longer retention and query.

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If you suspect compromise: step-by-step incident response

1. Isolate
   • If possible, take the site into maintenance mode or temporarily restrict public access while you investigate.
   • Add IP restrictions for wp-admin if you can do so quickly.
2. Preserve evidence
   • Do not immediately wipe logs. Preserve full access and error logs, database backups, and copies of suspicious files.
3. Triage
   • Identify indicators: new admin users, unusual scheduled tasks (cron), unexpected PHP files, changed timestamps of themes/plugins.
   • Check server logs for the timeframe around the suspected compromise.
4. Contain
   • Rotate passwords and deactivate compromised accounts.
   • If database credentials were exposed (evidence of LFI targeting wp-config.php), rotate DB user and password, update wp-config.php with new credentials, and change any credentials referenced in external services.
   • Disable XML-RPC if not used (common attack vector).
5. Eradicate
   • Remove backdoors and unauthorized admin users.
   • Rebuild affected files from a known-good source (plugin/theme official zip or repository).
   • If you’re uncertain what changed, restore from a clean backup taken before the incident and re-apply only verified updates.
6. Recover
   • Hardening steps: enable 2FA, enforce strong passwords, re-scan the environment with a reputable malware scanner, and ensure all plugins/themes/core are up to date.
7. Lessons learned
   • Document the incident, root cause, and action items (including a schedule to patch similar vulnerabilities in the future).
   • Update your incident response runbook.

If you need hands-on remediation, consider working with a professional incident response provider.

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Patch and upgrade workflow (recommended safe approach)

• Staging first: Always test plugin upgrades on a staging copy of your site. Use cloning tools or a staging environment provided by your host.
• Backup before upgrade: Create full site and database backups and verify restoreability.
• Upgrade plugin: Update PixelYourSite to 11.1.2 or later from the official plugin repository or the developer’s site.
• Post-upgrade validation: Check the admin pages, pixel/tracking configuration, and front-end pages for expected behavior.
• Monitor logs: For 48–72 hours after upgrade, monitor WAF logs and server logs for anomalies.
• Revoke temporary protective measures: If you temporarily restricted admin IPs or elevated some WAF rules beyond normal, carefully revert them after confirming the patch.

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Why layered defense matters

No single control is perfect. The PixelYourSite LFI highlights why security needs layers:

• Prevent account takeover (2FA, strong passwords, session handling)
• Reduce blast radius (least privilege, restrict admin access)
• Detect and block exploitation attempts (WAF, virtual patching)
• Recover quickly (backups and incident response planning)

WP-Firewall is designed to be one layer in this defense-in-depth strategy: a managed WAF provides quick mitigation when vulnerabilities are disclosed and helps protect sites while operators test and deploy official patches.

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Secure your site in minutes — start with our Free Basic plan

Protect your WordPress site immediately with our Basic (Free) plan. It includes essential managed firewall protection, unlimited bandwidth, a Web Application Firewall (WAF), malware scanning, and mitigation for OWASP Top 10 risks — everything you need to reduce exposure to plugin vulnerabilities like the PixelYourSite LFI while you patch. Start your free plan today and let us help keep your admin interface and site content safe.

Get started here

(If you need automated malware removal, IP blacklisting/whitelisting, virtual patching and monthly security reports, consider our Standard and Pro plans for deeper automated protection and managed services.)

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Practical recommendations — checklist you can follow right now

• ✅ Verify PixelYourSite version; update to 11.1.2 or later immediately.
• ✅ Enable WP-Firewall protection and ensure virtual patching rules for PixelYourSite are active.
• ✅ Force a password reset for all administrator accounts and enable 2FA.
• ✅ Restrict wp-admin access to trusted IPs where feasible.
• ✅ Rotate database credentials if you suspect any file exposure.
• ✅ Run a full site malware scan and perform a file integrity check.
• ✅ Backup site (files + DB) and store backups off-site.
• ✅ Turn off PHP display_errors on production servers.
• ✅ Review logs and monitor for suspicious admin-parameter activity (directory traversal tokens, unusual file requests).
• ✅ Schedule regular plugin and theme updates and maintain a patching policy.

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Closing thoughts

The PixelYourSite LFI (CVE-2025-10723) is a timely reminder that plugin vulnerabilities can have outsized consequences even when they require privileged contexts. The best defense is layered: reduce the likelihood of admin account compromise, keep your software current, and use a WAF to mitigate risks while you plan and test updates.

If you manage multiple WordPress sites or run client environments, integrate virtual patching into your vulnerability response playbook to buy time for safe updates. Our team at WP-Firewall is actively monitoring plugin disclosures and pushes managed protections to customers when new threats emerge.

If you’re not already protected, consider starting with our Basic free plan to get immediate managed firewall coverage and WAF protection: https://my.wp-firewall.com/buy/wp-firewall-free-plan/

If you need help evaluating whether your site was impacted or want assistance implementing the recommendations above, our security engineers can help — reach out through the WP-Firewall dashboard.

Fique seguro,
WP-Firewall Security Team