# CVE-2024-13643: Zox News <= 3.17.0 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Options Modification

> Authenticated subscribers can modify arbitrary options to escalate privileges to administrator or disrupt site functionality due to missing capability checks.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 11 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 8 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-3h9j-fvqm-h724

## What is CVE-2024-13643?

CVE-2024-13643 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in MVPThemes Zox News - Professional WordPress News & Magazine Theme, published on 11 Feb 2025. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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.

Weakness: CWE-862 (Missing Authorization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-13643?


## How do I fix CVE-2024-13643?

No fix has been published for CVE-2024-13643 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2024-13643 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-13643 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2024-13643 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-13643 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in MVPThemes Zox News - Professional WordPress News & Magazine Theme, published on 11 Feb 2025. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-13643 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: MVPThemes Zox News - Professional WordPress News & Magazine Theme. 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-2024-13643/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-13643/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-13643
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-13643
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-13643

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-13643/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.