Vulnerability · Published Jun 24, 2026 · Assigned by Wordfence

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

High 8.8

In plain English

A high-severity missing authorization in Welcome Software Publishing from newscred. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.7% (higher than 52% of all known vulnerabilities).

Severity (CVSS 3.1)8.8High

Exploit odds (30 days)0.7%top 47.8% of all CVEs

Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none

Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

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.

Affected products (as reported)

Vendor	Product	Versions
newscred	Welcome Software Publishing	0 – through 0.0.31

Weakness: CWE-862 · Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

In plain English

Official description

Affected products (as reported)

References