CVE-2026-4280: Breaking News WP <= 1.3 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Local File Inclusion/Read

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2026-4280 is a medium (CVSS 6.5) Path Traversal vulnerability in doctorwp breaking news wp. EPSS estimates a 0.85% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 57.7% of scored vulnerabilities.

Timeline

1. 22-04-2026
   PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
2. 23-04-2026
   Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

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.

• CWE-22Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory ('Path Traversal')The product uses external input to construct a pathname that is intended to identify a file or directory that is located underneath a restricted parent directory, but the product does not properly neutralize special elements within the pathname that can cause the pathname to resolve to a location that is outside of the restricted directory.