Description
The Breaking News WP plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Local File Inclusion in all versions up to, and including, 1.3. This is due to the brnwp_ajax_form AJAX endpoint lacking both authorization checks and CSRF verification, combined with insufficient path validation when the brnwp_theme option value is passed directly to an include() statement in the brnwp_show_breaking_news_wp() shortcode handler. While sanitize_text_field() is applied to user input, it does not strip directory traversal sequences (../). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to overwrite the brnwp_theme option with a directory traversal payload (e.g., ../../../../etc/passwd) and subsequently trigger file inclusion of arbitrary files on the server when the shortcode is rendered.
References7
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/breaking-news-wp/tags/1.3/br…
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/breaking-news-wp/tags/1.3/br…
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/breaking-news-wp/tags/1.3/br…
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/breaking-news-wp/trunk/break…
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/breaking-news-wp/trunk/break…
- plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/breaking-news-wp/trunk/break…
- www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/4772b482-f5e5…
Metrics
- CVSS 3.1
-
6.5
MEDIUM
Score source: CNA
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N - EPSS — exploit probability
- 1% percentile: 58 · as of 13 November 2026
- CWE
- CWE-22
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