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CVE-2025-7641: Arbitrary Directory Deletion Vulnerability in NextGEN Gallery Plugin for WordPress

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Overview

The NextGEN Gallery plugin for WordPress has been discovered to contain a severe security vulnerability that could allow unauthenticated attackers to delete arbitrary directories on the server. This vulnerability, designated as CVE-2025-7641, affects all versions up to and including 1.0.9 of the plugin, and poses a significant risk to WordPress websites that utilize this plugin. The potential damage of this vulnerability includes system compromise and data leakage.

Vulnerability Summary

CVE ID: CVE-2025-7641
Severity: High (7.5)
Attack Vector: Network
Privileges Required: None
User Interaction: None
Impact: Potential system compromise or data leakage

Affected Products

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Product | Affected Versions

NextGEN Gallery Plugin for WordPress | Up to and including 1.0.9

How the Exploit Works

The vulnerability lies in the insufficient file path validation in the /wp-json/nextgenassistant/v1.0.0/control REST endpoint, which allows attackers to delete arbitrary directories on the server. Unauthenticated attackers can send malicious requests to this endpoint to exploit the vulnerability and cause a complete loss of availability on the server.

Conceptual Example Code

Below is a conceptual example of how this vulnerability might be exploited. This is a sample HTTP DELETE request that targets the vulnerable REST endpoint:

DELETE /wp-json/nextgenassistant/v1.0.0/control?dir=/var/www/html/ HTTP/1.1
Host: target.example.com

By sending this request, an attacker could potentially delete the entire `/var/www/html/` directory on the server, causing a complete loss of availability.

Mitigation Guidance

The recommended mitigation strategy is to apply the vendor patch as soon as it becomes available. If the patch is not immediately available, a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be used as temporary mitigation. Regularly updating and patching software is crucial to maintaining the security integrity of your systems.

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Disclaimer:

The information and code presented in this article are provided for educational and defensive cybersecurity purposes only. Any conceptual or pseudocode examples are simplified representations intended to raise awareness and promote secure development and system configuration practices.

Do not use this information to attempt unauthorized access or exploit vulnerabilities on systems that you do not own or have explicit permission to test.

Ameeba and its authors do not endorse or condone malicious behavior and are not responsible for misuse of the content. Always follow ethical hacking guidelines, responsible disclosure practices, and local laws.

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