# CVE-2020-36721: Epsilon Framework Themes (Various Versions) - Unauthenticated Plugin Activation/Deactivation

> Unauthenticated attackers can activate or deactivate arbitrary plugins on vulnerable WordPress sites due to missing capability checks in theme functions.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:L`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 7 Jun 2023
- **Updated:** 8 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-x6fw-c968-rf52

## What is CVE-2020-36721?

CVE-2020-36721 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in silkalns Activello, published on 7 Jun 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The Brilliance <= 1.2.7, Activello <= 1.4.0, and Newspaper X <= 1.3.1 themes for WordPress are vulnerable to Plugin Activation/Deactivation. This is due to the 'activello_activate_plugin' and 'activello_deactivate_plugin' functions in the 'inc/welcome-screen/class-activello-welcome.php' file missing capability and security checks/nonces. This makes it possible for unauthenticated attackers to activate and deactivate arbitrary plugins installed on a vulnerable site.

Weakness: CWE-862 (Missing Authorization), CWE-284 (Improper Access Control)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-36721?

It affects 15 products.


Products: Colorlib Activello, Colorlib Bonkers, Colorlib Illdy, Colorlib Newspaper X, Colorlib Pixova Lite, Colorlib Shapely, Cpothemes Affluent, Cpothemes Allegiant, Cpothemes Brilliance, Cpothemes Transcend, Machothemes Antreas, Machothemes Medzone Lite, Machothemes Naturemag Lite, Machothemes Newsmag, Machothemes Regina Lite.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-36721?

No fix has been published for CVE-2020-36721 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2020-36721 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-36721 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in silkalns Activello

- [CVE-2020-36708](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-36708/): Epsilon Framework Themes (Various Versions) - Function Injection (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-45358](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-45358/): WordPress Activello Theme <= 1.4.4 is vulnerable to Cross Site Scripting (XSS) (medium 5.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-36721 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-36721 is a medium-severity missing authorization vulnerability in silkalns Activello, published on 7 Jun 2023. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-36721 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: silkalns Activello. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-36721/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-36721/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-36721
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-36721
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-36721

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-36721/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.