Subscriber-level site takeover via leaked AJAX nonce
Published Jun 7, 2023 · Updated Apr 8, 2026
Authorization bypass in King-Theme KingComposer 2.9.3 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to alter WordPress settings and content. The WordPress dashboard exposes a nonce populated by kc.widgets.php that serves as the sole authorization check for more than 30 AJAX actions in kc.ajax.php. Subscriber access suffices to change arbitrary options, recursively delete files through path traversal, replace page content, or read protected posts.
Summary
What happened
Authorization bypass in King-Theme KingComposer 2.9.3 and earlier allows remote authenticated users to alter WordPress settings and content. The WordPress dashboard exposes a nonce populated by kc.widgets.php that serves as the sole authorization check for more than 30 AJAX actions in kc.ajax.php. Subscriber access suffices to change arbitrary options, recursively delete files through path traversal, replace page content, or read protected posts.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2020-36700
- Published
- Jun 7, 2023
- Updated
- Apr 8, 2026
- Vendor
- King-Theme
- Product
- KingComposer
- Classifications
- CWE-284, T1190
- Attack vector
- network
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Jun 7, 2023CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- Apr 8, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=0 <=2.9.3
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Public exploit references
- NinTechNet KingComposer broken-access-control demonstrationproof of concept · demonstrated
Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.
Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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