{"id":86720,"date":"2026-03-18T21:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:29:10","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T06:00:00","slug":"cve-2025-5061-wp-import-export-lite-plugin-arbitrary-file-upload-vulnerability-in-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/cve-2025-5061-wp-import-export-lite-plugin-arbitrary-file-upload-vulnerability-in-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>CVE-2025-5061: WP Import Export Lite Plugin Arbitrary File Upload Vulnerability in WordPress<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The WP Import Export Lite plugin for WordPress, popular among website developers, is susceptible to an arbitrary file upload vulnerability. This vulnerability allows authenticated attackers to upload arbitrary files on the server hosting the affected site, potentially leading to remote code execution. This vulnerability is of high importance due to the potential for system compromise and data leakage.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulnerability Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>CVE ID: CVE-2025-5061<br \/>\nSeverity: High (7.5 CVSS Score)<br \/>\nAttack Vector: Network<br \/>\nPrivileges Required: Low (Subscriber-level access and above)<br \/>\nUser Interaction: Required<br \/>\nImpact: Potential system compromise and data leakage<\/p>\n<p><strong>Affected Products<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-3986364889\" 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>WP Import Export Lite Plugin for WordPress | Up to and including 3.9.29<\/p>\n<p><strong>How the Exploit Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This vulnerability stems from the &#8216;wpie_parse_upload_data&#8217; function in the WP Import Export Lite plugin. The function lacks proper file type validation, allowing authenticated attackers to upload arbitrary files to the server hosting the affected WordPress site. Once a malicious file is uploaded, remote code execution may be possible.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Conceptual Example Code<\/strong><\/p><div id=\"ameeb-1370142027\" 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>Below is a conceptual example of how the vulnerability might be exploited:<\/p>\n<pre><code class=\"\" data-line=\"\">POST \/wpie_parse_upload_data HTTP\/1.1\nHost: target.example.com\nContent-Type: multipart\/form-data; boundary=----WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW\n------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW\nContent-Disposition: form-data; name=&quot;file&quot;; filename=&quot;malicious.php&quot;\nContent-Type: application\/php\n&lt;php malicious content&gt;\n------WebKitFormBoundary7MA4YWxkTrZu0gW--<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>In this sample, an attacker sends a POST request to the vulnerable endpoint, uploading a malicious PHP file. The server, failing to validate the file type, allows the upload, potentially resulting in remote code execution.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Mitigation<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To mitigate this vulnerability, apply the vendor patch released in version 3.9.29. As a temporary solution, consider using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or Intrusion Detection System (IDS) to detect and prevent malicious file uploads.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Overview The WP Import Export Lite plugin for WordPress, popular among website developers, is susceptible to an arbitrary file upload vulnerability. This vulnerability allows authenticated attackers to upload arbitrary files on the server hosting the affected site, potentially leading to remote code execution. This vulnerability is of high importance due to the potential for system [&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":[],"tags":[],"vendor":[],"product":[],"attack_vector":[],"asset_type":[],"severity":[],"exploit_status":[],"class_list":["post-86720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86720","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=86720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86720"},{"taxonomy":"vendor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vendor?post=86720"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=86720"},{"taxonomy":"attack_vector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/attack_vector?post=86720"},{"taxonomy":"asset_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/asset_type?post=86720"},{"taxonomy":"severity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/severity?post=86720"},{"taxonomy":"exploit_status","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ameeba.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exploit_status?post=86720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}