CVE-2026-4280 Breaking News WP <= 1.3 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Local File Inclusion/Read
Authenticated subscribers can read arbitrary server files via path traversal in the Breaking News WP plugin due to missing authorization and insufficient input validation.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2026-4280?
CVE-2026-4280 is a medium-severity path traversal vulnerability in doctorwp Breaking News WP, published on 22 Apr 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official 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.
Weakness: CWE-22
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-4280?
How do I fix CVE-2026-4280?
No fix has been published for CVE-2026-4280 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.
Upgrade, and resolve every user-supplied path against an allowed base folder before opening it. More about Path traversal.
Is CVE-2026-4280 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-4280 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-mh5c-2v7r-xcxg.