CVE-2026-62008 in Orpheus Plugin
Summary
by MITRE • 10/29/2026
Unauthenticated PHP Object Injection in Orpheus <= 1.8 versions.
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Analysis
by VulDB Data Team • 10/29/2026
The vulnerability identified as an unauthenticated PHP object injection flaw within Orpheus versions prior to or equal to 1.8 represents a critical security deficiency that allows attackers to execute arbitrary code on the target server without requiring valid credentials. This type of vulnerability stems from the improper handling of user-supplied input during the deserialization process, where the application fails to validate or sanitize data before passing it to PHP's unserialize function. In many modern web applications and content management systems like Orpheus, object serialization is utilized for caching sessions, storing configuration states, or managing complex data structures efficiently across requests. However, when this mechanism is exposed to untrusted input without adequate safeguards, it creates a direct pathway for malicious actors to manipulate the application's internal state.
The technical root cause lies in the presence of magic methods within PHP classes that are automatically invoked during object instantiation and destruction, such as __wakeup, __destruct, or __toString. An attacker can craft a serialized payload containing references to these dangerous functions along with specific arguments designed to trigger unintended side effects. Because the vulnerability is unauthenticated, there is no access control layer to restrict who can submit this malicious input. This typically occurs through parameters passed via HTTP requests, such as POST data, GET variables, or cookies that are directly processed by the application's core logic without sufficient filtering. The attacker constructs a gadget chain, which is a sequence of object interactions leading to remote code execution, leveraging classes available in the Orpheus environment or its dependencies.
The operational impact of this vulnerability is severe and potentially catastrophic for system integrity. Successful exploitation allows an unauthenticated user to achieve Remote Code Execution (RCE) on the underlying server hosting the application. This means the attacker can execute commands with the privileges of the web server process, which often leads to full compromise of the host environment. Consequences include unauthorized access to sensitive data stored within the database or file system, modification of website content for defacement, installation of backdoors or malware such as cryptominers and ransomware, and using the compromised server as a pivot point for further attacks against internal network resources. The lack of authentication requirement significantly lowers the barrier to entry for attackers, enabling automated scanning tools to exploit this flaw at scale across the internet.
From an industry standards perspective, this vulnerability aligns with CWE-502, which describes Deserialization of Untrusted Data. It also maps closely to MITRE ATT&CK techniques related to Command and Scripting Interpreter execution via injection or deserialization attacks. The exploitation vector falls under Initial Access through web applications, specifically leveraging insecure default configurations or insufficient input validation mechanisms that are common in legacy software versions. Understanding these mappings helps security teams prioritize remediation efforts based on established risk frameworks and threat intelligence models.
Mitigation strategies must focus primarily on immediate patching and architectural hardening. The most effective solution is to upgrade Orpheus to a version newer than 1.8, where the developers have presumably addressed this deserialization flaw by implementing strict input validation or removing support for dangerous magic methods in public-facing endpoints. For environments where upgrading is not immediately feasible, temporary mitigations include disabling PHP's unserialize function if it is not strictly required for application functionality, although this may break legitimate features. Additionally, deploying a Web Application Firewall (WAF) with rules specifically tuned to detect serialized payload patterns can provide an additional layer of defense by blocking malicious requests before they reach the application logic. It is also critical to ensure that all server-side components and dependencies are kept up-to-date to minimize the availability of exploitable gadget chains within the runtime environment.