CVE-2026-4297 | Welcome Software Publishing <= 0.0.31 - Authenticated (Subscriber+) Arbitrary Options Update to Privilege Escalation via 'nc.setOption' XML-RPC Method

The Welcome Software Publishing plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary Options Update in all versions up to and including 0.0.31. This is due to a missing capability check in the nc_setOption() function, which is exposed via the nc.setOption XML-RPC method. The function authenticates the user via $wp_xmlrpc_server->login() (verifying credentials are valid) but does not perform any authorization check such as current_user_can('manage_options'). This makes it possible for authenticated attackers, with Subscriber-level access and above, to update arbitrary WordPress options via XML-RPC requests. This can be leveraged to change the default_role option to 'administrator' and then register a new administrator account, achieving full privilege escalation and site takeover.

Published: 2026-06-24 Last update: 2026-06-25 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2026-4297 is rated Moderate Risk (48/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.46%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2026-4297

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-24 0.46%

Full EPSS history (1 record total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2026-4297

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2026-4297

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2026-4297

GHSA-xgj6-m977-pghj · Severity: high — The Welcome Software Publishing plugin for WordPress is vulnerable to Arbitrary Options Update in...

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2026-4297

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
No affected products in dataset.

References for CVE-2026-4297

URL Tags
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/tags/0.0.31/newscred.php#L264
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/tags/0.0.31/newscred.php#L265
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/tags/0.0.31/newscred.php#L272
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/tags/0.0.31/newscred.php#L44
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/trunk/newscred.php#L264
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/trunk/newscred.php#L265
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/trunk/newscred.php#L272
https://plugins.trac.wordpress.org/browser/newscred-publishing/trunk/newscred.php#L44
https://www.wordfence.com/threat-intel/vulnerabilities/id/47e53fd3-4e3f-433a-8e70-3a58c864184a?source=cve
cvelogic Threat Intelligence