CVE-2025-9163

Houzez <= 4.1.6 - Unauthenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting via SVG File Upload

2025-11-26 00:01

Strategic Overview

Status: Patched in 4.1.7
Affected Theme: Houzez
Affected Version: <= 4.1.6
CVSS: 6.1Medium
Weakness type: CWE-79 · Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')
CVE: CVE-2025-9163

At a glance

CVE-2025-9163 is a medium-severity Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting') vulnerability in the Houzez WordPress theme, affecting versions <= 4.1.6. It carries a CVSS score of 6.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity). Exploitation requires no authentication. The issue is fixed in version 4.1.7; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed November 2025, reported by Alex Thomas.

Vulnerability Overview

The Houzez theme for WordPress is vulnerable to Stored Cross-Site Scripting via SVG File uploads in all versions up to, and including, 4.1.6 due to insufficient input sanitization and output escaping in the houzez_property_img_upload() and houzez_property_attachment_upload() functions. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to inject arbitrary web scripts in pages that will execute whenever a user accesses the SVG file.

Technical Analysis

The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no privileges on the target site.

CWE-79: Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation ('Cross-site Scripting')

Houzez <= 4.1.6 carries this weakness at houzez_property_img_upload(), and reaching it takes no account at all. Cross-site scripting happens when input from a request is written into a page without being escaped for the context it lands in, so the browser parses attacker-supplied text as markup or script.

Injected script runs with the privileges of whoever views the affected page, which is how these flaws turn into administrator session theft, silent account creation or persistent backdoors in page content. For Houzez the fix is 4.1.7: builds <= 4.1.6 are affected, anything from 4.1.7 onward is not.

Remediation

Update to version 4.1.7, or a newer patched version

How does WordSec protect against this?

Requests carrying this pattern arrive without a session, so nothing upstream of the firewall gets a chance to reject them: WordSec's web application firewall inspects request payloads before WordPress loads them. None of that substitutes for the fix: Houzez 4.1.7 closes this, and updating the theme is the step that ends it.

Firewall
Login Security
Alerts

External References

https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2025-9163 https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/e0e177f3-fb24-4dd5-80d5-19b113d5f527 https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2025-9163

Related records

Same weakness class

Other vulnerabilities in Houzez

CVSS Vector

6.1

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

Base

Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges RequiredNone
User InteractionRequired
ScopeChanged
ConfidentialityLow
IntegrityLow
AvailabilityNone

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