WordPress security changelog
MEDIUM CVE-2026-4280 Deferred

Breaking News WP: Filesystem traversal

Breaking News WP is affected by filesystem traversal. Exploitation requires at least subscriber-level access. A crafted path can escape the intended directory and reach files or directories elsewhere on the server. The published affected range is <= 1.3.

CVE / CNA score 6.5 CVSS 3.1 · security@wordfence.com
NVD score Pending NVD has not published its own CVSS assessment.
Component
Breaking News WP
Plugin slug
breaking-news-wp
Affected
<= 1.3
Safe version
> 1.3
Published
Apr 22, 2026
Weakness
CWE-22 — Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')

This CVE was published Apr 22, 2026 and is one of 3 known issues for this plugin.

What to do

Update, patch or deactivate.

Update Breaking News WP to a release after 1.3, or disable and remove it until a fixed version is available.

A safe version is available, so updating to that version or later is the preferred remediation. If an immediate update is not practical, consider a targeted application patch or temporarily restricting the affected functionality.

Deactivate only when warranted by your risk profile, or when advised by your hosting provider in the limited circumstances where the vulnerability cannot otherwise be mitigated. If you’re unsure which action is appropriate, contact Fused or your hosting provider for guidance.

Source record

Technical 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.

CVE / CNA vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

References

Primary and upstream sources