CVE-2024-13655
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 · uneditedThe Flex Mag - Responsive WordPress News Theme theme for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data that can lead to a denial of service due to a missing capability check on the propanel_of_ajax_callback() function in all versions up to, and including, 3.5.2. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to delete arbitrary option values on the WordPress site. This can be leveraged to delete an option that would create an error on the site 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 confidenceThe Flex Mag WordPress theme lacks a capability check on the propanel_of_ajax_callback() function, allowing any authenticated user with Subscriber-level access (the lowest privilege role) to delete arbitrary WordPress options via an AJAX action. This broken access control enables attackers to cause denial of service by deleting critical options that break site functionality.
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
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify Flex Mag theme versionNavigate to Appearance > Themes in WordPress admin, or check the style.css file in wp-content/themes/flex-mag/ for the 'Version' headerAffected if Installed version is lower than 3.6.0
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Verify AJAX endpoint accessibilityCheck if the WordPress AJAX endpoint (admin-ajax.php) responds to the 'propanel_of_ajax_callback' action. This can be tested by sending a POST request to /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=propanel_of_ajax_callbackAffected if The AJAX endpoint responds to this action without requiring elevated privileges
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Confirm option deletion capability existsInspect the theme files for the propanel_of_ajax_callback function in includes/ajax/propanel-ajax.php or similar locations within the theme directoryAffected if The function exists and performs delete_option() or similar operations without a capability check like current_user_can('manage_options')
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Test low-privilege user accessUsing a user account with only Subscriber role, attempt to access the AJAX action or inspect the function's capability verificationAffected if Subscriber-level users can trigger the action or no capability check is present in the callback function
You are affected if your Flex Mag theme version is below 3.6.0 and the propanel_of_ajax_callback AJAX endpoint is accessible to users with Subscriber-level access without capability verification.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade to version 3.6.0 or later which includes the capability check fix. If an update is unavailable, disable the theme or remove the vulnerable AJAX callback functionality until a patch is released.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-13655 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2024-13655 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- 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