Deserialization in Adminer
CVE-2025-43960
Adminer 4.8.1, when using Monolog for logging, allows a Denial of Service (memory consumption) via a crafted serialized payload (e.g., using s:1000000000), leading to a PHP Object Injection issue. Remote, unauthenticated attackers can trigger this by sending a malicious serialized object, which forces excessive memory usage, rendering Adminer’s interface unresponsive and causing a server-level DoS. While the server may recover after several minutes, multiple simultaneous requests can cause a complete crash requiring manual intervention.
Vulnerability class: Insecure Deserialization
EPSS: 0.007 (50.5th percentile) — read the EPSS interpretation.
CVSS v3 metric
CVSS v3 base score 8.6 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/A:L.
Affected products
- Adminer — versions 4.8.1
- N/a — versions n/a
Weakness classification (CWE)
Public proof-of-concept exploits
References
- cve@mitre.org (Release Notes)
- cve@mitre.org (Product)
- cve@mitre.org (Product)
- cve@mitre.org (Exploit, Third Party Advisory)
Frequently asked questions
- What is CVE-2025-43960?
- CVE-2025-43960 is a high-severity vulnerability in Adminer, classified under Deserialization of Untrusted Data. CVSS score: 8.6/10. Published 2025-08-25.
- How severe is CVE-2025-43960?
- High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.6 out of 10.
- Is CVE-2025-43960 known to be exploited?
- 2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.