Breaking News WP <= 1.3 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Local File Inclusion/Read

6.5
Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')
CVE CVE-2026-4280
CVSS 6.5 (Medium)
Publicly Published April 21, 2026
Last Updated April 22, 2026
Researcher t0ann9uy3n

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.

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Vulnerability Details for Breaking News WP

Software Type Plugin
Software Slug breaking-news-wp (view on wordpress.org)
Patched? No
Remediation No known patch available. Please review the vulnerability's details in depth and employ mitigations based on your organization's risk tolerance. It may be best to uninstall the affected software and find a replacement.
Affected Version
  • <= 1.3

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