• Patients must have histologically confirmed metastatic or recurrent solid tumor malignancy for which standard curative or palliative measures do not exist or are no longer effective

‣ Dose escalation/phase I: Metastatic or recurrent solid tumors with measurable or evaluable disease

⁃ Dose expansion exploratory cohorts (nivolumab + ipilimumab + ZEN003694): Recurrent BRCAwt epithelial ovarian carcinoma patients who have progressed or recurred within \< 6 months from prior platinum-based therapy

• Dose escalation and expansion exploratory cohorts: Patients must have measurable and biopsiable disease (at least two lesions) per Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) version (v)1.1. For patients in the dose escalation with evaluable disease, biopsy is mandated if feasible

• No more than 5 lines of prior therapy for the dose escalation and expansion phases

‣ In the expansion cohorts, up to 2 prior lines in the platinum-resistant setting is allowed

⁃ Patients with primary refractory ovarian cancer (who progressed while on primary 1L platinum therapy) will be excluded in the dose expansion cohorts but allowed in the dose escalation cohort

• Patients who have had chemotherapy or radiotherapy more than 4 weeks (6 weeks for nitrosoureas or mitomycin C) prior to entering the study and who have recovered from adverse events due to agents administered more than 4 weeks earlier are eligible; for oral therapies, a patient is eligible after 5 half-lives of the drug. Prior palliative (limited field) radiation therapy is permitted, if all of the following criteria are met:

‣ Palliative radiation must have been completed at least 4 weeks before starting study treatment

⁃ Repeat imaging demonstrates no new sites of bone metastases

⁃ Irradiated sites of metastasis should not be selected as target lesions

⁃ Patients must have recovered to meet all eligibility criteria

• Age \>= 18 years. Because no dosing or adverse event (AE) data are currently available on the use of nivolumab in combination with ZEN003694 +/- ipilimumab in patients \< 18 years of age, children are excluded from this study

• Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status =\< 1 (Karnofsky \>= 80%)

• Leukocytes \>= 2,000/mcL

• Absolute neutrophil count \>= 1,500/mcL

• Platelets \>= 150,000/mcL

• Total bilirubin =\< 1.5 x institutional upper limit of normal (ULN)

• Aspartate aminotransferase (AST)(serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase \[SGOT\])/alanine aminotransferase (ALT)(serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase \[SGPT\]) =\< 2.5 x institutional ULN

• Creatinine clearance (CrCl) \>= 60 mL/min (using the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration \[CKD-EPI\] formula)

• Patients with a prior or concurrent malignancy whose natural history or treatment does not have the potential to interfere with the safety or efficacy assessment of the investigational regimen are eligible for this trial

• Patients with known history or current symptoms of cardiac disease, or history of treatment with cardiotoxic agents, should have a clinical risk assessment of cardiac function using the New York Heart Association Functional Classification. To be eligible for this trial, patients should be class 2B or better and have a corrected QT (QTc) interval \< 450 msec

• The effects of nivolumab, ZEN003694, and/or ipilimumab on the developing human fetus are unknown. For this reason and because nivolumab, ZEN003694, and/or ipilimumab are known to be teratogenic, women of child-bearing potential (WOCBP) and men must agree to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry and for the duration of study participation. WOCBP should use an adequate method to avoid pregnancy for 5 months after the last dose of investigational drug. Women of childbearing potential must have a negative serum or urine pregnancy test (minimum sensitivity 25 IU/L or equivalent units of human chorionic gonadotropin \[HCG\]) within 24 hours prior to the start of nivolumab. Women must not be breastfeeding. Men who are sexually active with WOCBP must use any contraceptive method with a failure rate of less than 1% per year. Women who are not of childbearing potential (i.e., who are postmenopausal or surgically sterile as well as azoospermic men) do not require contraception.

‣ WOCBP is defined as any female who has experienced menarche and who has not undergone surgical sterilization (hysterectomy or bilateral oophorectomy) or who is not postmenopausal. Menopause is defined clinically as 12 months of amenorrhea in a woman over 45 in the absence of other biological or physiological causes. In addition, women under the age of 55 must have a documented serum follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level less than 40 mIU/mL.

⁃ WOCBP receiving nivolumab will be instructed to adhere to contraception for a period of 5 months after the last dose of investigational product. These durations have been calculated using the upper limit of the half-life for nivolumab (25 days) and are based on the protocol requirement that WOCBP use contraception for 5 half-lives plus 30 days and men who are sexually active with WOCBP use contraception for 5 half-lives plus 90 days.

⁃ Should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while she or her partner is participating in this study, she (or the participating partner) should inform the treating physician immediately

• Ability to understand and the willingness to sign a written informed consent document. Participants with impaired decision-making capacity (IDMC) who have a legally-authorized representative (LAR) and/or family member available will also be eligible