CVE-2025-53833: 
PHP vulnerability analysis and mitigation

LaRecipe, an application for creating documentation with Markdown inside Laravel apps, was found to contain a critical Server-Side Template Injection (SSTI) vulnerability identified as CVE-2025-53833. The vulnerability affects versions prior to 2.8.1 and received a CVSS score of 10.0, indicating maximum severity. This security flaw was discovered and reported by Roman Ananev, with the official disclosure made on July 14, 2025 (GitHub Advisory, NVD).

The vulnerability is classified as a Server-Side Template Injection (SSTI) flaw that could lead to Remote Code Execution (RCE) in vulnerable configurations. The issue is tracked under CWE-1336 (Improper Neutralization of Special Elements Used in a Template Engine). The vulnerability received a CVSS v3.1 base score of 10.0 (Critical) with the vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H, indicating network accessibility, low attack complexity, no required privileges or user interaction, and potential for complete compromise of system confidentiality, integrity, and availability (GitHub Advisory).

The vulnerability's impact is severe, allowing attackers to execute arbitrary commands on the server, access sensitive environment variables including database credentials and API keys, and potentially escalate privileges to gain root or administrative access. With LaRecipe's widespread adoption of over 2.3 million downloads, this vulnerability poses a significant risk to Laravel applications, especially in production environments where LaRecipe is publicly exposed (Security Online).

Users are strongly advised to upgrade to LaRecipe version 2.8.1 or later, which contains the necessary fix to eliminate the SSTI vulnerability. The patch was released as part of pull request #390 (GitHub PR, GitHub Commit).