ChurchCRM has unauthenticated RCE in its Install Wizard
ChurchCRM is an open-source church management system. Prior to version 5.21.0, a pre-authentication remote code execution vulnerability in ChurchCRM's setup wizard allows unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary PHP code during the initial installation process, leading to complete server compromise. The vulnerability exists in `setup/routes/setup.php` where user input from the setup form is directly concatenated into a PHP configuration template without any validation or sanitization. Any parameter in the setup form can be used to inject PHP code that gets written to `Include/Config.php`, which is then executed on every page load. This is more severe than typical authenticated RCE vulnerabilities because it requires no credentials and affects the installation process that administrators must complete. Version 5.21.0 patches the issue.
- Products
- Not specified
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- Not specified
- CVEs
- CVE-2025-62521
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 3 Nov 2026, 09:41 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
ChurchCRM has unauthenticated RCE in its Install Wizard
core-osv · Original sourcePublished 17 Dec 2025, 19:03 UTC
ChurchCRM is an open-source church management system. Prior to version 5.21.0, a pre-authentication remote code execution vulnerability in ChurchCRM's setup wizard allows unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary PHP code during the initial installation process, leading to complete server compromise. The vulnerability exists in `setup/routes/setup.php` where user input from the setup form is directly concatenated into a PHP configuration template without any validation or sanitization. Any parameter in the setup form can be used to inject PHP code that gets written to `Include/Config.php`, which is then executed on every page load. This is more severe than typical authenticated RCE vulnerabilities because it requires no credentials and affects the installation process that administrators must complete. Version 5.21.0 patches the issue.
osv:CVE-2025-62521
Complete source record
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"title": "ChurchCRM has unauthenticated RCE in its Install Wizard",
"summary": "ChurchCRM is an open-source church management system. Prior to version 5.21.0, a pre-authentication remote code execution vulnerability in ChurchCRM's setup wizard allows unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary PHP code during the initial installation process, leading to complete server compromise. The vulnerability exists in `setup/routes/setup.php` where user input from the setup form is directly concatenated into a PHP configuration template without any validation or sanitization. Any parameter in the setup form can be used to inject PHP code that gets written to `Include/Config.php`, which is then executed on every page load. This is more severe than typical authenticated RCE vulnerabilities because it requires no credentials and affects the installation process that administrators must complete. Version 5.21.0 patches the issue.",
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"modified": "2026-10-28T02:30:27.675928303Z",
"provider": "osv",
"references": [
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"https://github.com/ChurchCRM/CRM/security/advisories/GHSA-m8jq-j3p9-2xf3",
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"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 494272,
"published_at": "2025-12-17T19:03:20.04+00:00"
}