High

Zox News <= 3.17.0 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Options Modification

  • Disclosed: 10.02.2025
  • Updated: 11.10.2026 10:22

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.

Affected software

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PlatformPackageVulnerable versionsFixed in
WordPress theme Zox News <= 3.17.0 3.17.1

References

CVSS score 8.8/10
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness (CWE)
CWE-862
Platform
WordPress
Package
Zox News
Disclosed
10.02.2025
Updated
11.10.2026 10:22

Sources and licenses

Wordfence Intelligence - 4adb7436-11e6-4512-b6c9-551402909bf0 - Wordfence Intelligence

Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation

Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc.

This record contains material that is subject to copyright

Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation

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https://www.cve.org/Legal/TermsOfUse
Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc.

Defiant hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute this software vulnerability information. Any copy of the software vulnerability information you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you include a hyperlink to this vulnerability record and reproduce Defiant's copyright designation and this license in any such copy.

https://www.wordfence.com/wordfence-intelligence-terms-and-conditions/
Wordfence Intelligence
Wordfence Intelligence - Defiant, Inc.
Copyright Defiant, Inc. All rights reserved except as granted below.
License grant, section 3.1 of the Wordfence Intelligence Terms and Conditions (January 26, 2026):

Subject to this Agreement, Company hereby grants you a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the Service. Any copy you make for such purposes is authorized provided that you reproduce Company’s copyright designation, this license, and the license of any disclosed Company licensor in any such copy.

Full applicable Agreement: https://www.wordfence.com/wordfence-intelligence-terms-and-conditions/

Vulnerability history: Zox News

All published vulnerabilities of this package (WordPress theme), newest first. Shows whether this is a one-off slip or a package that needs watching.

Total entries
2
First → latest
01.2025 02.2025
Without a fix
0
Exploited in attacks
0

Severity breakdown

  • High 2

Disclosures per year

  1. 2025: 2
  2. 2026: 0
  1. Zox News <= 3.17.0 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Options Modification this entry
    High · 8.8 CVE-2024-13643 <= 3.17.0 3.17.1

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