CVE-2024-7561
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 The Next theme for WordPress is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection in all versions up to, and including, 1.1.0 via deserialization of untrusted input from the wpeden_post_meta post meta value. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Contributor-level access and above, to inject a PHP Object. No known POP chain is present in the vulnerable software. If a POP chain is present via an additional plugin or theme installed on the target system, it could allow the attacker to delete arbitrary files, retrieve sensitive data, or execute code.
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 Next theme for WordPress (versions up to 1.1.0) is vulnerable to PHP Object Injection through unsafe deserialization of the wpeden_post_meta post meta value. Authenticated users with Contributor-level access or higher can inject arbitrary PHP objects. While no POP chain exists in the theme itself, additional plugins or themes on the target system could provide one, enabling remote code execution.
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify The Next theme is installedNavigate to Appearance > Themes in WordPress admin dashboard and check if 'The Next' theme appears in the installed themes listAffected if The Next theme is active or installed on the WordPress site
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Determine the installed theme versionClick on the theme to view its details; the version number is displayed in the theme description or inspect the style.css file in the theme directory and look for the 'Version:' headerAffected if The installed version is 1.1.0 or lower
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Check for the vulnerable wpeden_post_meta meta keyQuery the wp_postmeta database table for entries with meta_key = 'wpeden_post_meta', or use a plugin like WP Data Access or run: SELECT * FROM wp_postmeta WHERE meta_key = 'wpeden_post_meta' LIMIT 10;Affected if Records with wpeden_post_meta meta_key exist in the database
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Inspect stored meta value contentExamine the meta_value field for any serialized data in the wpeden_post_meta entries; serialized PHP objects typically contain 'O:' or 'a:' prefixesAffected if The meta_value contains serialized data that could be exploited if a POP chain exists
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Review user role permissionsCheck WordPress user roles via Users > All Users in admin; verify that untrusted users do not have Contributor-level or higher accessAffected if There are Contributor-level or higher users who should not have write access to post meta data
You are affected if The Next theme version 1.1.0 or lower is installed and wpeden_post_meta post meta values containing serialized data exist in the database, combined with the presence of users who have Contributor-level or higher permissions.
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 dataUpdate the theme to a patched version if available. Until then, restrict user permissions to exclude Contributor-level accounts, or replace/disable the theme entirely.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2024-7561 — 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-2024-7561 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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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.
- 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