{"id":58299,"date":"2025-07-08T00:56:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T00:56:21","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-09-11T11:54:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:54:50","slug":"cve-2025-5014-arbitrary-file-deletion-vulnerability-in-home-villas-real-estate-wordpress-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5014-arbitrary-file-deletion-vulnerability-in-home-villas-real-estate-wordpress-theme\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-5014: Arbitrary File Deletion Vulnerability in Home Villas | Real Estate WordPress Theme<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this post, we dive into a significant cybersecurity vulnerability, CVE-2025-5014, that affects the Home Villas | Real Estate WordPress Theme. This vulnerability allows an authenticated attacker with Subscriber-level access to perform arbitrary file deletion, which, under certain circumstances, can lead to remote code execution. Given the popularity of WordPress and the multitude of sites leveraging it, this vulnerability poses a considerable risk and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-52817-authorization-bypass-in-zealousweb-abandoned-contact-form-7-leads-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65769\">potentially exposes a large number of websites to potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-5014<br \/>\nSeverity: High (CVSS: 8.8)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: Low (Subscriber-level access)<br \/>\nUser Interaction: None<br \/>\nImpact: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-52717-sql-injection-vulnerability-in-lifterlms-leads-to-potential-system-compromise\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65413\">Potential system<\/a> compromise or data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3365305919\" class=\"ameeb-content-2 ameeb-entity-placement\"><div style=\"border-left: 4px solid #555; padding-left: 20px; margin: 48px 0; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; color: #ffffff; line-height: 1.6; max-width: 720px;\">\r\n  <h2 style=\"margin-top: 0; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 600; display: flex; align-items: center; letter-spacing: -0.02em;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"display: inline-flex; align-items: center; margin-right: 10px;\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Best-App-icon-Ameeba.png\" alt=\"Ameeba Chat Icon\" style=\"width: 42px; height: 42px;\" \/>\r\n    <\/a>\r\n    Share secrets securely\r\n  <\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 14px; color: #d1d5db;\">\r\n    Ameeba is private infrastructure for communication and sensitive work built on encrypted identity instead of exposed corporate identity systems.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"margin-bottom: 18px; color: #a1a1aa;\">\r\n    Passwords, credentials, confidential files, screenshots, internal discussions, sensitive AI context, and private coordination should not become exposed across ordinary communication platforms.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <ul style=\"list-style: none; padding-left: 0; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #e4e4e7;\">\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Encrypted identity<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Private Spaces for organizations and teams<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 End-to-end encrypted chat, calls, files, and notes<\/li>\r\n    <li style=\"margin-bottom: 8px;\">\u2022 Sensitive AI work and protected collaboration<\/li>\r\n    <li>\u2022 Built for information that cannot leak<\/li>\r\n  <\/ul>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"font-style: italic; font-weight: 600; margin-bottom: 24px; color: #ffffff;\">\r\n    Our mission is to secure human work alongside AI.\r\n  <\/p>\r\n\r\n  <div style=\"display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; gap: 12px;\">\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\/download\" style=\"background-color: #ffffff; color: #000000; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Download Ameeba\r\n    <\/a>\r\n\r\n    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/chat\" style=\"border: 1px solid #ffffff; color: #ffffff; padding: 10px 20px; text-decoration: none; border-radius: 8px; font-weight: 500;\">\r\n      Learn More\r\n    <\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>Product | Affected Versions<\/p>\n<p>Home Villas | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-8218-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-real-spaces-wordpress-properties-directory-theme\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"81693\">Real Estate WordPress<\/a> Theme | Up to and including 2.8<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The vulnerability lies in the &#8216;wp_rem_cs_widget_file_delete&#8217; function, which does not adequately <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-40737-critical-file-path-validation-vulnerability-in-sinec-nms\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"66617\">validate the file path<\/a>. This failure can allow an authenticated attacker to delete <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6755-wordpress-plugin-vulnerability-leads-to-arbitrary-file-deletion\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65604\">arbitrary files<\/a> on the server. If an attacker deletes a critical file like &#8216;wp-config.php&#8217;, it could lead to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-29331-critical-remote-code-execution-vulnerability-in-mhsanaei-3x-ui\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"64973\">remote code execution<\/a>, giving the attacker control over the system.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1131964277\" class=\"ameeb-content ameeb-entity-placement\"><div class=\"poptin-embedded\" data-id=\"f6b387694f681\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p>This conceptual example demonstrates how an attacker might exploit the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-30131-unauthenticated-file-upload-vulnerability-in-iroad-dashcam-fx2-devices\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"64959\">vulnerability by sending a malicious request to delete<\/a> the &#8216;wp-config.php&#8217; file:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/wp-admin\/admin-ajax.php HTTP\/1.1\nHost: target.example.com\nContent-Type: application\/x-www-form-urlencoded\naction=wp_rem_cs_widget_file_delete&amp;wp_rem_cs_widget_data=..\/..\/..\/wp-config.php<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this example, the attacker sends a POST request to &#8216;admin-ajax.php&#8217;, an internal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2023-25998-php-remote-file-inclusion-vulnerability-in-samex-woocommerce-wordpress-theme\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65818\">WordPress file<\/a> that processes AJAX requests. The &#8216;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-7734-critical-gitlab-ce-ee-vulnerability-allows-unauthorized-actions-by-attackers\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"79527\">action&#8217; parameter is set to the vulnerable<\/a> function &#8216;wp_rem_cs_widget_file_delete. The &#8216;wp_rem_cs_widget_data&#8217; parameter is set to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-54653-path-traversal-vulnerability-in-virtualization-file-module\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"78859\">file path<\/a>, which in this case is a relative path to the &#8216;wp-config.php&#8217; file.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation and Prevention<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The most effective mitigation against this vulnerability is to apply the vendor&#8217;s patch. Users of the Home Villas | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-6758-privilege-escalation-vulnerability-in-real-spaces-wordpress-properties-directory-theme\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"81699\">Real Estate WordPress<\/a> Theme should ensure they have updated to the latest version, which includes a fix for this vulnerability.<br \/>\nIn cases where immediate patching is not possible, employing a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can provide temporary mitigation. These systems can be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2014-0468-apache-configuration-vulnerability-in-fusionforge\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65055\">configured to detect and block attempts to exploit this vulnerability<\/a>.<br \/>\nRemember, maintaining up-to-date software <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2015-0843-critical-buffer-overflow-vulnerability-in-yubiserver-before-version-0-6\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"65150\">versions and regularly scanning for vulnerabilities<\/a> is a best practice in securing any system. It&#8217;s essential to take these steps to protect your WordPress site and its users from potential <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-20217-denial-of-service-vulnerability-in-snort-3-detection-engine-of-cisco-secure-firewall-threat-defense-software\/\"  data-wpil-monitor-id=\"77117\">security threats<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview In this post, we dive into a significant cybersecurity vulnerability, CVE-2025-5014, that affects the Home Villas | Real Estate WordPress Theme. This vulnerability allows an authenticated attacker with Subscriber-level access to perform arbitrary file deletion, which, under certain circumstances, can lead to remote code execution. Given the popularity of WordPress and the multitude of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[80],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-58299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","attack_vector-rce"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58299"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74153,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58299\/revisions\/74153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58299"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=58299"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=58299"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=58299"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=58299"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=58299"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=58299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}