dbcve.org
Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2024-13643

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-02-11
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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 - Professional WordPress News & Magazine Theme plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized data modification. This vulnerability can lead to privilege escalation and denial of service conditions due to missing capability checks on the backup_options() and reset_options() functions in all versions up to and including 3.17.0. This vulnerability allows authenticated attackers with Subscriber-level access and above to update and delete arbitrary option values on the WordPress site. Attackers can exploit this issue to update the default user role for registration to Administrator and enable user registration, thereby gaining administrative access to the vulnerable site. Additionally, they could delete critical options, causing errors that may disrupt the site's functionality and deny service to legitimate users.

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 versions up to 3.17.0 lack capability checks on backup_options() and reset_options() functions, allowing authenticated users with Subscriber-level access to modify or delete arbitrary WordPress options. Attackers can change the default user role to Administrator and enable user registration to gain admin access, or delete critical options causing denial of service.

MitigationUpdate to Zox News theme version 3.17.0 or later which includes proper capability checks. If unable to update immediately, restrict user registration or disable the affected theme functions via firewall rules.

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

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
    Navigate to Appearance > Themes in WordPress admin dashboard and identify if the Zox News theme is active or installed
    Affected if Zox News theme is installed and active on the WordPress site
  2. Check installed Zox News version
    In WordPress admin, go to Appearance > Themes and click on the Zox News theme to view its details; note the version number displayed
    Affected if Version is 3.17.0 or lower (any version up to and including 3.17.0)
  3. Check if user registration is enabled
    In WordPress admin, go to Settings > General and inspect the 'Membership' setting 'Anyone can register' - if checked, the site allows new user registration
    Affected if User registration is enabled on a site running Zox News theme version 3.17.0 or lower
  4. Inspect default user role setting
    In WordPress admin, go to Settings > General and check the 'Default Role' dropdown; verify it has not been changed to Administrator unexpectedly
    Affected if Default role is set to Administrator on a site running Zox News theme version 3.17.0 or lower
  5. Audit user accounts for unauthorized administrators
    In WordPress admin, go to Users > All Users and review the list for any administrator accounts that were not created by known administrators
    Affected if Unexpected administrator accounts exist on a site running Zox News theme version 3.17.0 or lower

A site is affected if it runs Zox News theme version 3.17.0 or lower and has any authenticated subscriber-level users or if unauthorized admin accounts or registration changes are detected.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update to Zox News theme version 3.17.0 or later which includes proper capability checks. If unable to update immediately, restrict user registration or disable the affected theme functions via firewall rules.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,570
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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-2024-13643 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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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