CVE-2025-52023 is an information disclosure vulnerability affecting the PHP backend of gemscms.aptsys.com.sg, identified as CWE-209. The flaw arises because the backend improperly handles error conditions triggered by specially crafted HTTP GET or POST requests to its public API endpoints. When these requests cause errors, the system returns detailed error messages containing sensitive information such as internal file paths, snippets of source code, and stack traces. This exposure can provide attackers with valuable insights into the backend architecture, file system layout, and application logic, which can be leveraged to craft more targeted and effective attacks, including remote code execution or privilege escalation. The vulnerability requires no authentication or user interaction and can be exploited remotely over the network. The CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.3 reflects a medium severity, with the vector indicating network attack vector (AV:N), low attack complexity (AC:L), no privileges required (PR:N), no user interaction (UI:N), unchanged scope (S:U), limited confidentiality impact (C:L), and no impact on integrity or availability (I:N/A:N). No patches or fixes are currently linked, and no known exploits have been reported in the wild as of the publication date. The vulnerability highlights a common security misconfiguration where detailed error reporting is enabled in production environments, violating best practices for secure error handling.

For European organizations, this vulnerability poses a moderate risk primarily through information disclosure. Attackers can gain insights into internal system structures, which can facilitate subsequent attacks such as injection flaws, authentication bypass, or privilege escalation. Organizations relying on gemscms.aptsys.com.sg or similar PHP-based CMS backends with exposed error messages may face increased reconnaissance risks. While the vulnerability does not directly compromise data integrity or availability, the leaked information can be a stepping stone for more severe attacks. This is particularly concerning for sectors with sensitive data, such as finance, healthcare, and government, where attackers could leverage disclosed information to target critical infrastructure. The risk is heightened for organizations that have not implemented proper error handling or network segmentation, increasing the attack surface. Additionally, the lack of authentication requirements and the ability to exploit remotely make it easier for attackers to probe systems without detection.

To mitigate CVE-2025-52023, organizations should immediately disable detailed error messages in production environments by configuring PHP and the CMS to log errors internally rather than displaying them to users. Implement strict input validation and sanitization on all API endpoints to prevent malformed requests from triggering errors. Employ web application firewalls (WAFs) to detect and block suspicious requests targeting API endpoints. Restrict access to sensitive API endpoints using IP whitelisting or authentication mechanisms where feasible. Conduct regular security audits and code reviews to ensure error handling follows secure coding practices. Monitor logs for unusual error patterns that may indicate exploitation attempts. If possible, update or patch the CMS backend once a fix becomes available. Finally, educate development and operations teams about secure error handling to prevent similar issues in future deployments.