dbcve.org
Zox NewsWordPress extension · Mvpthemes

CVE-2024-11936

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-01-26
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 3.17.0 or later.
See remediation →
94/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The Zox News theme for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data that can lead to privilege escalation due to a missing capability check on the 'backup_options' and 'restore_options' function in all versions up to, and including, 3.16.0. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to update arbitrary options on the WordPress site. This can be leveraged to update the default role for registration to administrator and enable user registration for attackers to gain administrative user access to a vulnerable site.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The Zox News WordPress theme lacks proper capability checks on the 'backup_options' and 'restore_options' functions, allowing any authenticated user with Subscriber-level permissions or higher to modify arbitrary WordPress options. This Broken Access Control vulnerability can be exploited to change the default user registration role to Administrator and enable user registration, granting attackers administrative access to the site.

MitigationUpdate the Zox News theme to version 3.16.1 or later which includes proper capability checks. If an update is unavailable, remove the theme or implement manual capability checks (current_user_check('manage_options')) on the affected functions.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Zox NewsWordPress extension
Affected:< 3.17.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Confirm Zox News theme is installed
    Go to Appearance > Themes in WordPress admin and check if the Zox News theme appears in the installed themes list
    Affected if Zox News theme is installed and activated
  2. Identify installed Zox News version
    Check the theme's style.css file in wp-content/themes/zox-news/ or view the theme details in Appearance > Themes to find the installed version number
    Affected if Version is less than 3.17.0 (or version cannot be determined and theme is present)
  3. Check WordPress user registration setting
    Navigate to Settings > General in WordPress admin and inspect the 'Membership' setting 'Anyone can register' - verify if it is enabled when you did not enable it
    Affected if User registration is enabled without your explicit authorization
  4. Inspect default user role setting
    Go to Settings > General and check the 'New User Default Role' dropdown - verify it is not set to Administrator if you did not intentionally configure this
    Affected if Default role is set to Administrator or an unexpected role you did not configure
  5. Review user accounts for unauthorized administrators
    Go to Users > All Users and examine the list for administrator accounts that you did not create, especially accounts created recently
    Affected if Unexpected administrator-level user accounts exist in the system

A user is affected if Zox News theme version is below 3.17.0 AND either user registration was enabled without authorization, the default role was changed, or unauthorized administrator accounts appeared.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 3.17.0 or later
Fixed in 3.17.0
Interim mitigation

Update the Zox News theme to version 3.16.1 or later which includes proper capability checks. If an update is unavailable, remove the theme or implement manual capability checks (current_user_check('manage_options')) on the affected functions.

Recommended fix High confidence

Zox News theme version 3.17.0 or later

  1. Log in to the WordPress admin dashboard
  2. Navigate to Appearance > Themes
  3. Locate the Zox News theme
  4. Click on the theme to view details and select "Update to version 3.17.0" or newer
  5. Alternatively, upload and install Zox News theme version 3.17.0 or higher from a trusted source
  6. After updating, review all user accounts in Users > All Users and remove any unauthorized administrator accounts
  7. Check Settings > General to verify the "Default New User Role" has not been changed to Administrator by attackers
  8. Verify "Anyone can register" is disabled in Settings > General if it was not intentionally enabled

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Zox News Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
6.0 hours of engineering $1,040
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-11936 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-11936 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data