Friday, May 23, 2025
HomeCyber Security NewsCritical Flaws in WordPress Houzez Theme Exploited to Hijack Websites

Critical Flaws in WordPress Houzez Theme Exploited to Hijack Websites

Published on

SIEM as a Service

Follow Us on Google News

Houzez is a high-quality WordPress theme that is available for purchase on ThemeForest, a popular marketplace for digital products. This premium theme has been widely recognized for its outstanding features and has garnered an impressive 35,000 sales to date with a price tag of $69.

The Houzez theme and plugin for WordPress, which are commonly utilized by real estate websites, are currently under attack from hackers who are exploiting two high-risk vulnerabilities. 

Vulnerability Details:

These security flaws are considered critical in severity and can potentially cause significant harm to websites and their users.

- Advertisement - Google News

A threat researcher from Patchstack named Dave Jong has identified two vulnerabilities in the Houzez theme and plugin for WordPress. Upon discovery, the issues were reported to the theme’s vendor, ThemeForest, and were addressed in two separate updates. 

The first vulnerability was fixed in version 2.6.4, which was released in August 2022, and the second issue was resolved in version 2.7.2, which was released in November 2022.

Here below we have mentioned the vulnerabilities:-

  • CVE ID: CVE-2023-26540
  • Description: Houzez Theme Vulnerability
  • CVSS Score: 9.8
  • Severity: Critical
  • CVE ID: CVE-2023-26009
  • Description: Houzez Login Register Vulnerability
  • CVSS Score: 9.8
  • Severity: Critical

A recent report from Patchstack highlights that certain websites have yet to implement the security updates released for the Houzez theme and plugin, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation. This report serves as a warning that hackers are currently targeting these unpatched vulnerabilities in ongoing attacks.

The privilege escalation vulnerability has been found both in the theme itself as well as one of the plugins that are included in the theme. It is important to note that the Houzez Login Register plugin is also vulnerable to the same vulnerability.

Exploitation

At present, the security vulnerability present in the Houzez theme and plugin for WordPress is being actively exploited by cybercriminals. These attacks are being carried out from the IP address 103.167.93.138 and have been observed in significant numbers.

A backdoor was uploaded by the threat actors in the attacks observed by Patchstack that enabled them to perform the following illicit activities:-

  • Executing commands
  • Injecting ads on the website
  • Redirecting traffic to other malicious sites

Patchstack has committed to continuously monitoring any further attempts to exploit the vulnerabilities in the Houzez theme and plugin for WordPress. Apart from this, the website owners and administrators should prioritize the process of applying the available patches with the highest level of priority.

Network Security Checklist – Download Free E-Book

Gurubaran
Gurubaran
Gurubaran is a co-founder of Cyber Security News and GBHackers On Security. He has 10+ years of experience as a Security Consultant, Editor, and Analyst in cybersecurity, technology, and communications.

Latest articles

Zero-Trust Policy Bypass Enables Exploitation of Vulnerabilities and Manipulation of NHI Secrets

A new project has exposed a critical attack vector that exploits protocol vulnerabilities to...

Threat Actor Sells Burger King Backup System RCE Vulnerability for $4,000

A threat actor known as #LongNight has reportedly put up for sale remote code...

Chinese Nexus Hackers Exploit Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile Vulnerability

Ivanti disclosed two critical vulnerabilities, identified as CVE-2025-4427 and CVE-2025-4428, affecting Ivanti Endpoint Manager...

Hackers Target macOS Users with Fake Ledger Apps to Deploy Malware

Hackers are increasingly targeting macOS users with malicious clones of Ledger Live, the popular...

Resilience at Scale

Why Application Security is Non-Negotiable

The resilience of your digital infrastructure directly impacts your ability to scale. And yet, application security remains a critical weak link for most organizations.

Application Security is no longer just a defensive play—it’s the cornerstone of cyber resilience and sustainable growth. In this webinar, Karthik Krishnamoorthy (CTO of Indusface) and Phani Deepak Akella (VP of Marketing – Indusface), will share how AI-powered application security can help organizations build resilience by

Discussion points


Protecting at internet scale using AI and behavioral-based DDoS & bot mitigation.
Autonomously discovering external assets and remediating vulnerabilities within 72 hours, enabling secure, confident scaling.
Ensuring 100% application availability through platforms architected for failure resilience.
Eliminating silos with real-time correlation between attack surface and active threats for rapid, accurate mitigation

More like this

Zero-Trust Policy Bypass Enables Exploitation of Vulnerabilities and Manipulation of NHI Secrets

A new project has exposed a critical attack vector that exploits protocol vulnerabilities to...

Threat Actor Sells Burger King Backup System RCE Vulnerability for $4,000

A threat actor known as #LongNight has reportedly put up for sale remote code...

Chinese Nexus Hackers Exploit Ivanti Endpoint Manager Mobile Vulnerability

Ivanti disclosed two critical vulnerabilities, identified as CVE-2025-4427 and CVE-2025-4428, affecting Ivanti Endpoint Manager...