CVE-2026-4297
What it is
The Welcome Software Publishing plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary Options Update in all versions up to and including 0.0.31. This is due to a missing capability check in the nc_setOption() function, which is exposed via the nc.setOption XML-RPC method. The function authenticates the user via $wp_xmlrpc_server->login() (verifying credentials are valid) but does not perform any authorization check such as current_user_can('manage_options'). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to update arbitrary WordPress options via XML-RPC requests. This can be leveraged to change the default_role option to 'administrator' and then register a new administrator account, achieving full privilege escalation and site takeover.
At a glance
- Exploitability
- Can be exploited over the network with a low-privilege account. High risk of data exposure, data tampering, service disruption.
- Exploit odds
- 0.7% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).
- Fix
- No patch or advisory is linked yet. Look at mitigations or restrict exposure.
Timeline
- PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
- Last updatedMost recent change to the record
Details
- Published
- Last modified
- Exploit probability
- 0.7% · EPSS, next 30 days
- Weakness
- CWE-862 · Missing authorization
- Record status
- Deferred
Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 8.8
- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
Raw vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
References
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/tags/0.0.31/newscred.php#L264
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/tags/0.0.31/newscred.php#L265
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/tags/0.0.31/newscred.php#L272
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/tags/0.0.31/newscred.php#L44
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/trunk/newscred.php#L264
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/trunk/newscred.php#L265
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/trunk/newscred.php#L272
- https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/trunk/newscred.php#L44
- https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/47e53fd3-4e3f-433a-8e70-3a58c864184a?source=cve