Flex Mag - Responsive WordPress News Theme <= 3.5.2 - Missing Authorization to Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Option Deletion
Strategic Overview
- Status
- Patched in 3.6.0
- Affected Theme
- Flex Mag - Responsive WordPress News Theme
- Affected Version
<= 3.5.2- CVSS
- 8.1High
- Weakness type
- CWE-862 · Missing Authorization
- CVE
CVE-2024-13655
At a glance
CVE-2024-13655 is a high-severity Missing Authorization vulnerability in the Flex Mag - Responsive WordPress News Theme WordPress theme, affecting versions <= 3.5.2. It carries a CVSS score of 8.1 (reachable over the network; low attack complexity; high integrity, availability impact). Exploitation requires an authenticated account at Subscriber level or above. The issue is fixed in version 3.6.0; sites on affected versions should update now. Disclosed March 2025, reported by Lucio Sá.
Vulnerability Overview
The Flex Mag - Responsive WordPress News Theme theme for WordPress is vulnerable to unauthorized modification of data that can lead to a denial of service due to a missing capability check on the propanel_of_ajax_callback() function in all versions up to, and including, 3.5.2. This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to delete arbitrary option values on the WordPress site. This can be leveraged to delete an option that would create an error on the site and deny service to legitimate users.
Technical Analysis
The vector marks this flaw as remotely reachable over the network, with low attack complexity — no special timing or configuration is needed, and no interaction from a victim user. A successful exploit has high impact on integrity, availability.
CWE-862: Missing Authorization
Flex Mag - Responsive WordPress News Theme <= 3.5.2 carries this weakness at propanel_of_ajax_callback(), and reaching it takes an account at Subscriber level or above. A missing authorization check means a function is reachable by anyone who can reach the endpoint, because the code never asks whether the caller is allowed to perform the action.
Any user who can reach the endpoint gets to run an action reserved for higher-privileged roles, from reading protected data to changing settings or content. For Flex Mag - Responsive WordPress News Theme the fix is 3.6.0: builds <= 3.5.2 are affected, anything from 3.6.0 onward is not.
Remediation
Update to version 3.6.0, or a newer patched version
How does WordSec protect against this?
Because it turns on account access, WordSec's login security is the relevant layer: role-based two-factor, captcha and brute-force limits raise the cost of getting the account this needs. None of that substitutes for the fix: Flex Mag - Responsive WordPress News Theme 3.6.0 closes this, and updating the theme is the step that ends it.
- Login Security
- Alerts
External References
Vulnerability data © Defiant, Inc., provided under the Wordfence Intelligence T&C